Surviving Mobius
by AtalentaSonic
Summary: Nicki is a human who has a great power but until her so called mother died she had no idea they even existed. A year later she comes face to face with the group of mercenaries known as the Destructix. Their intentions kidnap her and bring her to the mad scientist Dr. Finitevus. Armed with only her bow and arrows and friends she meets along the way will she survive this adventure?
1. Found

Hello my name is Nicki I am 15 years old and my story starts back on Earth. It was a

warm day, and I was outside my house lying in the grass. There was a gentle breeze and

flowers were blooming. All were signs of Spring, the best season ever. Once I saw the

weather I just had to go outside. That and my brother Mike and I go into another fight. I

never did have a good relationship with my brother. I never have. We were polar

opposites and never got along. We used to tolerate each other but that was when my

mom was around. She always kept the peace between us. But once she died my family

was never the same. And I know I would never be the same either. Because when we

visited the hospital the day before she died she asked to speak to me alone. I will

always remember what she said.

**flashback**

_"Nicki I have something very important to tell you."_

_"Mom why didn't you want Mike or dad to hear this."_

_"This has to be between you and me... I don't have much time left."_

_"DON'T SAY THAT!"_

_"Nicki we both know my time is coming and i believe it is time to tell you the truth."_

_"What truth?"_

_"Listen to every word I say very carefully"_

_"O-okay"_

_"Remember how you grew up much differently than the rest of the children."_

It was true by kindergarten I already knew how to read, wright, do simple

multiplication, and some division. I would even "borrow" tools from the custodians tool

box and make small toys.

_"Yes I remember"_

_"Nicki, you are not the same as regular kids, you may not be able to understand what I'm _

_about to say now but one day you will. Would you bring me my mother's box."_

My grandmothers box was my mother's prized possession. It was a beautifully hand

carven wooden box about the size of a loaf of bread. It also had a lock that I could never

manage to pick. She took that box everywhere. When I would ask her what was in it she

would always say " You will figure out when you are older Nicki." Even my brother was

curious to see what was inside. No matter how hard we tried to get her to tell us what

was inside she would never crack.

She then grabbed the locket around her neck and opened it to reveal a small gold key. I

couldn't believe it, after 14 years of wondering I would finally be able to see what was

inside. I watched in anticipation as she put the key in and slowly twisted it until I heard a _click_. She then lifted the lid and the box creaked open. And when I looked inside there was velvet lining and... Nothing else.

_"Mom why is there nothing inside?"_

_"There is something inside. I'm just not done yet."_

Then she slowly reached for the pair of scissors on her bedside table. She then picked them up and cut a few slits in the velvet big enough for a hand to fit in. Then she reached inside and pulled out a secret compartment. She picked up two items from the secret compartment and then held up the first item. It looked like a piece of rough quartz and was about the size of a fist. I gazed at the stone and finally asked...

_"What is it? It looks like a regular piece of quartz."_

"_It__ is not quartz and this stone is very important, never lose it"_

She then placed it in my hand, and before I could ask any more questions she pulled out the next item. This one was a very beautiful pendent. It had a crescent moon with a sun attached of it and looked like it was made of pure gold.

_"It's beautiful"_

_"Yes it is, Nicki do not show either of these things to anyone not even to Mike or Richard (my dad) the longer you keep these hidden the more time you will have to prepare." _

_"Wait! If there so important why are you giving them to me? And why can't you just destroy them if no one is supposed to see them!"_

Mom let out a soft chuckle the kind that made me think I said something completely stupid.

_"I'm leaving them with you because I am not going to be around much longer, the only other person to keep these safe is you. And even if you tried you couldn't destroy them you couldn't and these are going to be one of your only sources of protection in the future."_

_"What protection, why would I need protection?"_

_"You will find out."_

_"Mom..."_

It was the only thing i managed to say before tears started creeping down my cheeks.

Then suddenly my mom lurched forward obviously in pain. She looked up at me and her eyes turned grey. My heart sank. "NO MOM STAY WITH ME!" Then an ear shattering alarm went off. I quickly hid my new treasures before medics came rushing in. And as they shoved me out I screamed.

_"MOM!"_

I don't remember much after that. I remember they called later that night and said she had died during surgery. I know there was no funeral because she wanted to be cremated after she died. The house went quiet for weeks. Some nights I would look at the two items she gave me and wonder if she was telling the truth. _Am I really that important ? What makes me so important? What does she mean by "not like everyone else? "Does my future really depend on this stone and pendent... It couldn't, she was on a lot of medicine at the time she couldn't have known what she was saying._

So instead of asking questions I couldn't answer one day I tried something out. One day I went into the garage while Mike and dad were at football practice. I brought the stone and pendent with me. I picked the lock on my dad's old tool chest and grabbed a hammer. I remembered how she said they couldn't be destroyed. If either of them broke I would get at least one answer. So, I placed the stone on the ground. And thought to myself if this was the right thing to do. If the stone were to break I would be going against my mom's last wishes... No! I have to know, and this is the only way I could find out. So I slowly raised the hammer as high as I could make it go and forced it down with all the strength I had. As soon as it made impact sparks flew everywhere and a shock wave came out with such force that it blew me back into the garage door. I was winded but forced myself up to look at the rock. It sparked awhile and then went out. I ran over and checked, then to my surprise there was not a single scratch on the stone. I tried the same thing with the pendent. The only difference was the pendent let out a ring of fire that burned my hand. Once I recovered from the shock of it all I picked them both up and held them close and said the only word I could think of..._Mom._ Then from that day on I always carried those items with me and kept them well hidden. Because now I fully believed what my mom said. And if they were going to protect me from whatever my mom was talking about I needed them with me. And I was right to do that because that little experiment of mine would get the attention of an evil scientist from another world.

**Back to the present**

I then woke up to the sound of a dog barking. I must have fallen asleep in the grass. The sun was still high so I wasn't out for that long. I heard the bark again it was my dog Tails. He was a shaggy black mutt that we found abandoned on farm several years ago. When my dad said we could keep him I decided to name him Tails after one of my favorite sonic characters. Tails was a very good dog very overprotective but good. He would always growl and try to bite neighbors if they got within 10 feet of me. But we had to keep him confined in a fence outside or one of the neighbors would press charges walked over gave him a pat on the head smiled and said "thanks for waking me up boy" Then, headed back to the house.

Since it was still nice out I decided to spend the rest of the day outside, I wanted to get stuff from my room to bring out first though. When I got to the door I slowly opened it and peaked my head in hoping Mike and dad already left for football practice. I said a cautious "Hello?"... When no one answered I knew I was in the clear. So I rushed to my room. And pulled up a section of my wood floor where I hid my things that Mike would burn on sight. And I swear he would have burst into flames if he saw my stash. It had everything that he hated. Graphic novels, comics, books, my iPod, video games, fan art, tools, my bow and arrow, and not to mention my pendent and stone. So I grabbed them, a handful of sonic comics and my iPod. And stuffed them all into a small back pack. I looked back at the bow and arrow and thought _"I__ could use some target practice, It has been a while since I used them." _So I put the bow and arrows securely on my belt. Then I ran back outside. And walked to the meadow where I used to do target practice. It was about a half a mile walk but once I got there I was surprised to see my targets were still up. You see I have shot arrows ever since I could walk. My mom taught me how when I was very little. And she even set up these targets for m. But I haven't even touched my bow since my mom died. I guess my bow reminded me of her, and for me it was still painful to think about mom. But today I was feeling strong.

I walked over and inspected the targets, and they were still in great condition. I went about 20 feet back and strung an arrow, pulled it back to my cheek, aimed, and fired. Damn! I was off the center by a couple of inches, my vision hadn't gotten any better since I shot last. I shot another one and hit the first ring away from the center. I strung one more and... YES Bulls eye! I tried it again and another bulls eye! I guess today was a good day! I kept on moving back and repeated the process until I was about 60 feet away.

I soon realized the sun was setting. That's when I decided to take a break and read some comics before I went back home. When I reached in first thing I pulled out was the pendent. I smiled and though since no one was around I could probably hold on to it. But I swore I put that thing at bottom of the bag. I reached in again I pulled out one of my favorite comics, sonic comic issue #183. I started to read it when I heard voices coming from the forest. It could be just some hikers so I decided to ignore them and kept on reading.

The end was the reason it was my favorite comic because it had one of the best villains in it Dr. Finitevus! To me he was a very interesting character that no matter how much you read you never knew enough about him. I finished a couple minutes later, and my mind started to wonder what it would be like to live on Mobius."Augh!". Those voices came up again, in fact they got louder. Which meant got closer. It sounded like they were arguing. I closed my eyes and focused all of my hearing to the conversation and started tuning them in, like a radio. So what if it was eavesdropping I did this in school all the time! But attention turned to the conversation when I could start to make out what they were saying.

"_I think that's the person he was talking about." "Are you sure, he'll have our heads if we waste his time and bring back the wrong one!" "Well its not my fault Dr. Creepy Von Evil was so vague about explaining who we're looking for!" _

Dr. creepy von evil? Just as I thought it's just some of the neighborhood jerks are trying to scare me. Everyone knew that I liked the Sonic comics and loved to pick on me about it. They should know by now that it's not a good idea to make fun of a girl that's armed. But I was not going to give them the satisfaction with a reaction. So I tried to ignore them. But my curiosity got the better of me and I kept listening.

_"Is it her or not!" " I CANT TELL ALL OVERLANDERS LOOK ALIKE!". "Shhhh! Be quiet or she'll hear us"... "Well it's not my fault for being frustrated after a long day of looking for a lost cause!" "No that is definitely who he was talking about I feel a strong power radiating from her." Heh heh heh the girley, swirley, pearley is coming this way." _

He was right, I had heard just about enough and couldn't take it anymore. I'm not going to let some jerk try to scare and let them think a bunch of trees was going to stop me from punching their faces in. So I decided to go teach them a lesson. When I was about a few steps away from the forest I realized 3 things.

1. Everything was silent, there was no dogs barking, no birds chirping, there wasnt even any wind.

2. The neighborhood bullies never tried to scare me they just picked on me up front. And they never even read a sonic comic so how did they know some of the names and personalities?

3. And last the pendent (which I still had in my hand) started to burn.

I looked down at my pendent. It was glowing like metal just pulled out of a fire. My instincts, and every bone in my body was screaming one thing.

"Run!"

As soon as that all I bolted a prickly green ball blasted out of the trees. I barely dodged it and fell down. And got up just in time to see a familiar smug looking green hedgehog. He had red shades perched on top of his head he wore a black leather jacket with flames on the arms, he had green/ black shoes, and had 2 nasty looking scars across his chest. I watched in horror as A sinister smile appeared as he called out to his team mates and said.

_"Hey guys come on out for some fun!"_


	2. Facing The Destructix

I couldnt believe it. My whole world seemed to disapear around me. Was this real? Was I dreaming? Was I really looking at Scourge the hedgehog? I was so distrcted by the green hedgehog that I barely noticed his teammates coming out of the forest. When I turned around I saw Lightning Lynx, flying frog, and Mega Bitch (also known as Fiona)."Well so much for taking her by suprise why did you have to do that Scourge?" . "Dont sweat it babe, besides its more fun this way."

I couldn't hear what they said my mind was so foggy with the shock of it all. But the heat coming from my pendent snaped me back into reality. Or at least what thought was reality. But my vision wasnt tricking me, the Destructix were standing right in front of me. I then noticed 2 members were missing though. I did a mentel headcount and figured out Simian and Predator were missing. Where were they? Were they lying in wait somewhere? Then I realized Everyone was quiet. Fiona and Scourge had stopped arguing and were starring at me so were the rest of the Destructix. I wondered why and realised, when there was fights at school the people that were fighting would always wait to see who would make the first move to start the fight. They were waiting for me to make the first move. And I knew from experience that If I didnt make the first move they would. And I dont think I would last long against the Destructix.

Without another moments thought I snaped on the pendent on and ran for dear life. When I started running I saw Fiona start to run after me until Scourge stoped her and said "Give her a 10 second head start, this wont take long." I wished I could go back and punch that smirk off his face. But I wasnt that stupid.

I had a million questions at once. But I pushed them all aside and focused on my first priority which was geting the hell out of there! I didnt know where I was going all I knew is that I was geting away from them. I tried to remember what they said earlier to see if it would give a hint on why they were following me. The only useful piece of information that I remembered was about Dr. Finitevus wanting something from me. That thought just made me run would Dr. Finitevus want from me? Unless he figured out that- Before I could finish that thought I barely dodged another spinball courtesy of Scourge. I guess my 10 seconds were up, I knew I had to find a way to defend myself. He landed a couple yards in front of me with a sinister smile. I then remembered that I had a weapon. Before I second guessed myself, I quickly strung an arrow and fired it at his chest. It would have hit its mark if he wouldnt have dodged it at the last second. But it did skim his arm leaving a rip in his lether jacket and a deep cut. He was caught of guard with what I just did and to tell you the truth so was I. For a second we stood there staring at each other like idiots. Luckely I snaped out of it before he did and took the opportunityto run in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately Scourge snaped out of it and looked pissed. I guess he didnt like the fact that a overlander just dodged both of his tademark spin dashes and even cut his arm and ripped his precious jacket with an arrow. I filled with pride knowing I had ticked off Scourge. I liked his scowl more than I liked his stuck up smile.

I abruptly stopped as 2 liquid darts sailed past me. I looked over and saw Fiona, Lightning, and Flying had finally caught up.

"Just great."

I reached to my belt to get an arrow and my heart sank. I was out, I used my last arrow on Scourge. And speak of the devil, right at that moment one of Scourges spinballs hit me straight on my left arm. It hurt like heck, like someone repeatedly punched your arm and then burned it. Scourge landed in front of the other Destructix and said "Thats for ripping my jacket!". I knew I had to at least try to keep on going as soon as I turned Fiona laughed and said "Its pointless, just give up and save yourself some pain." I ignored her knowing if I was to give up I would be handed over to Dr. Finitevus, and most likely never see the light of day again. I tried running again but the problem was I was exhausted. I've been all out sprinting and maneuvering this whole time I never noticed how tired I was, my body was not used to all of this. When I stopped it must have all caught up with me. My feet could barely carry me and my vision went blury. When I finally managed to turn around I spoted a black smudge coming towards me at an impressive speed. I blinked a few more times and noticed it was Tails! He was running at me full speed snarling he then leaped at me. I thought he was going to attack me so I ducked. He sailed straight over me and grabed ahold of something else. I looked back and saw him in midair clinging on to Predator Hawk with his teeth.

I then realized I was right about Simian and Predator. Thats the reason Fiona and the others took longer to catch up with me. She stayed behind to contact them and make a plan.

While I was to tired to be able to tell when he was coming Predator would swoop down and come in for the kill. Tails just saved my butt! But there was one problem, I couldnt see Simian anywhere. I looked around to see if I could find him as the Destructix watched as Predator tried to pry Tails off. "Get this stupid mutt off of me!" He screamed. When Tails finally let go Predator Growled and said "You think you can make a fool out of me?" Tails growled in response." Well then take this." Predator lunged forward with his claws out. But Tails fought back like a pro. He got up on his front paws and kicked Predator with his back ones. Before Predator knew what hit him Tails went in and bit him again. I was to busy watching that I didnt notice a huge figure standing over me until it was to late.

I slowly turned around and gasped, it was Simian. My first impression of this guy was . He was huge! He could put any body builder to shame. When I saw him in the comics yea he looked big but In real life you would think that he could hold the whole the entire planet up. And the weapons and combat boots only made him look bigger. I then relized his target was ME! As soon as I tried to get away he grabed me by my bad arm and hoisted me up in the air. I let out a shriek of pain that got the rest of the Destructix attention. "Lightning now!" said Simian. Without a moment hesitation Lightning threw a liquid dart and it hit me in the right shoulder. I let out another shreik of pain and quickly pulled it out. But I was to late, the contents of the dart were already in my bloodstream. Tails abandoned his fight with Predator and jumped at Simian only to get spinballed by Scourge. My vision was going out of focus and I started to feel very tired. My whole body started to feel numb. I could only make out some of what the Destructix said.

Lightning let out a sigh and said "That was more trouble than I thought it would be." "It doesnt matter we got the job done."said Simian "DOESNT MATTER! I GOT MULLED BY A STUPID MUTT!" "Calm down Predator, Im the one who almost got killed with an arrow! Im never gonna live this down!" said Scourge." " Heh heh heh we have to go before the overlanders see us."said Flying "He's right the time lapse will only last so long" said Fiona

Time lapse?

Fiona opened a warp ring and they all steped through. The last thing I saw was Tails get up and sprint over and jump just making it through the warp ring. And then I blacked out.


	3. Many Changes

I was in a sunny flower filled meadow, and I wore a simple white sleeveless gown. I looked down at my body to admire the radiant gown not knowing how it got there. I reached my hand down and felt the silky fabric. That's when I noticed my left arm; the one that Scourge had hit had been completely healed like nothing had ever happened. I reached up to my neck to find that the gold pendent was still there. I noticed that the moon was gone only the sun was there. I put little thought to this change, and took a step forward.

At first I thought that the gown was reflecting the sunlight until I walked into the shade of a weeping willow tree. I realized my whole body was glowing a soft gold light. But I just kept on walking like it was completely normal. As I walked the leaves of the weeping willow tickled my bare shoulders until I exited. I noticed a dirt road and started to follow it, determined to find the end. For once I knew wherever I was going it would lead to answers. I continued walking at a fast pace.

Little time had seemed to pass but day changed to night and a full moon came into the sky. A small breeze started to blow and I stopped and closed my eyes to take it in. When I reopened them it was nighttime and the ground around me was covered in snow but the path was still there. I looked up to see the sky filled with beautiful glowing stars. I had also exchanged my gold glow with a silver one. My pendent had also changed to silver and the crescent moon replaced the sun. I had never seen anything so beautiful. Even though the ground was covered in snow and I was wearing a sleeveless dress with no shoes I was still warm. I stopped a moment to admire the change in scenery and kept going.

I soon came upon a fork in the road. I looked down each path and they were both the same. "Now what?" I asked myself.

Before I could make a choice a voice startled me. _"__Choose your path wisely."___said a female voice_._

"Who's there?" I said. There was no response. I looked back at the road and saw a figure had appeared on each path. On the left side was a human figure that was almost a perfect duplicate of me. On the right was what looked like a female mobian echidna. I had never seen this echidna before, however I couldn't see too much of her since her image was more blurred than the latter.

The voice from before finally reappeared, startling me "_Will you run in fear forever or will you embrace who you truly are? Like an eclipse the sun and moon must always part ways, leaving only one to dominate the sky." _

My brain suddenly felt numb.What do you mean by that?" I asked yelled. When there was no answer I started to get desperate. "Please please! I need to know!" All my surroundings started to disappear around me until There was almost nothing left. " PLEASE!

_WHAM!_

GAH! A loose branch had fallen on my head. And I had woken up from my dream and reentered my living nightmare. I found myself uncomfortably slung over Simians shoulder. The first thing I felt was my left arm throb painfully, I cussed Scourge under my breath for spin-dashing it."Well look who's awake, did you have a nice sleep?" said a snide voice. I looked over and cringed to see a smirking Scourge walking beside Simian. I looked around to see where I was, it looked like we were in some sort of forest.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Mobius" he answered.

"Where on Mobius?" I asked in a aggravated tone "Ha! Sorry babe but I can't tell you!" I instantly wanted to punch him for calling me babe.

I shook that off and tried to break loose of Simians grip but it was no good, so I asked him "Hey Simian would you mind putting me down."

"Hmm?".

"I promise I won't run". I felt his position shift then grabbed me with his other hand and held me out in front of him. Both of his thumbs were jamming into my abdomen, squeezing all the air I had left out of me.

"And how do I know you're not lying?" he asked.

I took a deep breath and abandoned my fear of the Destructix and remarked "Listen monkey boy! Unless you didn't notice I am clearly at a disadvantage, and even if I were to try to run I would have nowhere to run to, and with your teammates you would be able to recapture me in seconds! So please spare me the discomfort of having to ride on your lumpy shoulder the rest of the way!"

Simian didn't seem fazed after my little outburst until Fiona said "Put her down Simian. Besides you don't have to waste your energy carrying her anymore we're almost there." Simian nodded and dropped me, I landed on my butt and said "It wouldn't of killed you to SET me down." He just huffed and kept on walking. I struggled up flashing a look at Fiona, not knowing whether to be thankful or offended by her comment, then Lightning came up behind me and tied my wrists behind my back and let a long strand of rope hang off so he could hold onto it like a leash.

I sighed, groaning "Why!?"

"Just taking precautions." He answered normally. I Growled but kept on walking.

"Hey why don't you guys just use the warp ring instead of walking all this way?" I asked after a while.

Predator flew up and landed next to me and crossed his arms "That stupid mutt of yours snached it out of Fionas hand before she could use it again." He answered.

I thought about that for a second and started to crack up. "The_ incredible _Destuctix were outwitted by a dog!" I laughed.

I kept on laughing until Scourge slugged me on the shoulder and said "Well sorry to tell ya **babe** but we couldn't follow the mutt because he jumped of the stupid island!" Fiona slapped herself on the face because Scourge just revealed our location to me.

I immediately stopped laughing "You let my dog Tails jump of the island?"

"You named that mutt Tails!" Scourge laughed. "If you wanted to name him after one of the lamest Freedom Fighters I would have named him Antoine or Roter don't you agree?"

I wiped a tear off my cheek determined not to let them see me cry and yelled " ANTOINE AND ROTER ARE MORE OF MEN THEN YOU WILL EVER BE!" Right after I said that Scourge Kicked me in the back HARD and said " I'm getting tired with your mouth you _will_ give me respect or I'm going to have to knock some into you." He walked away with his threat still lingering in the air.

I reached down for my bow, wanting to grab it for support, however when my hand reached down I didn't feel my anything. I looked down at my belt and the bow was gone! Had I dropped it? No, it was firmly strapped to my belt, who would have- Then it slapped me in the face..."Yo Destructix!" They all looked over at me other than flying who was busy playing with a stick. "Which one of you took my bow!?" I yelled.

They all looked around at each other until Scourge finally spoke up with a evil grin "Hehehe. Sorry it's in my bag, you want it back?"

"Give it to me." I said in a tone so cold it would've frozen the trees. He put down his bag, reached in and pulled out a bow that was snapped in two and threw It at me. It landed on the ground at my feet and I looked down at it in disbelief.

"Sorry I hope you don't mind if I stomped on it after we came here." I knelt down and picked it up, like you would a wounded animal. This was my first and only bow, this was the bow my mother gave me and taught me to shoot with. This was one of the last normal things I had left of her. I felt the pendent heat up against my skin. I filled with rage and started to glow white. I felt like I could do anything, and the only thing I wanted to do then was attack Scourge! I don't know how I did it but I ripped through the rope that were binding my hands together like it was made out of butter, and ran at Scourge full speed. He was ready for me and got into a fighting stance. I made the first move and tried to kick him but he jumped up to dodge it. I smirked and jumped up just as high as he did and started to focus all my strength into one fist. Scourge was caught off guard by what I just did, And I used the opportunity to punch him down. He went straight through a tree then made impact with the ground with a "BANG". I gracefully landed and admired what I had just done. But before I could react Scourge spin-dashed me straight in the stomach, I flew backwards straight into a tree. Before I could get up Scourge grabbed the collar of my shirt pulled his fist back and said "I'm going to enjoy this!"

I had no regrets Scourge had it coming anyway. As his fist came down I looked away and braced myself for the blow... When the pain didn't come I took a peak to see what was taking him so long. And saw that a warp ring had opened up in front of me. To my relief it opened up behind Scourge making him hit himself. I looked around hopefully for the one who had saved me. But my heart sank when I heard cold laughter. "Well that was quite the performance there, I'm quite impressed." said a calm voice. I looked around and saw what I dreaded most as a figure stepped out of the shadows. He was a male albino echidna that wore a pitch black cape with a star in the center, he had bandages on his hands and feet he also had glasses perched on the tip of his nose. What really scared me were his eyes. They were gold with black sclera and outlined in red. My pendent got ice cold and all the red energy surrounding me diminished when I saw the figure in full light.

I helplessly watched as Dr. Finitevus slowly walked toward me.


	4. Dr Finitevus

When that warp ring saved me from Scourge I thought my luck was starting to look up. But I should have known that luck was never on my side, because the one who saved me was Dr. finitevus.

I could only sit there paralyzed in fear as many things raced through my mind at once. This was the echidna who lead the assult on Albion, killing 90% of the echidna population, who kidnapped the brotherhood of guardians and experimented on them until they were nothing more than lifeless shells, who was able to capture Knuckles and turn him into Enerjack, and who single handedly managed to bring down the Downunda Freedom Fighters (minus Guru). And he was standing a few feet away from me

For a minute I only noticed him while everything around me disapeared. He stopped for a moment, and a serious expression came onto his face he moved his hand to his chin like he was in deep thought. He started to look over every inch of my body and stopped when he saw my pendent. His eyes widened and a creepy smile appeared on his face. He turned around to address Fiona "Well done. You seemed to have brought me the right one." "Thank you sir we only had a small amount of retaliation but we were ultimately able to complete our mission." said Fiona. She kept a pretty calm composure but deep down I know she was almost a scared as I was.

"Wheres the warp ring? "asked Finitevus. Fiona lost her composure and her face drained. I was eager to see what would happen ._What now Mega Bitch_. Dr. Finitevus's face hardened when she didnt answer. "Fiona where is the warp ring?" he asked again. W-we lost it." Fiona answered. "You lost it?" his voice was dangerously calm. "Well the overlander had a mutt that seemed bent on keeping us from completeing our mission we thought we took it out. But when we first came back the dog caught us by suprise and grabbed the warp ring and jumped off the edge of the island before we could get it back" squeeked Fiona. Finitevus screamed "WHAT! I ENTRUST YOU WITH A WARP RING AND YOU LET A STUPID MUTT GET AWAY WITH IT? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG THOSE TAKE TO-" He stoped himself before he could say anything else and took a deep breath. In his normal calm voice he said ''No matter, it will be well worth it in the end." His gaze came back to me.

I stopped watching, and was busy trying to regain control of my legs when Dr. Finitevus took a step closer "You have caused me a lot of trouble you know?" said Finitevus. I stopped in my tracks while a whole new wave of fear hit me. " You are not like other overlanders." hes said.

I finally managed to say "W-what are you talking about, Im just a human." When I said that Finitevus Let out a laugh that sent chills down my spine. "Foolish child, would "just a human" be able summon chaos energy, or punch one of the Destructix through a tree?" he looked back at Scourge who was still recovering from his own punch. Then he smiled.

"About one year ago an abnormal power surge went through your world. One of my machines detected it and I was able to trace it to the exact location of where it occured, and then thats when I found you."_ One year ago_? _Surge of power_? What was he talking about? Then it hit me, Thats when I tried to destroy the pendent and stone!

I was to busy ripping myself up for even trying to destroy the pendent and stone I didn't notice Finitevus was walking toward me until he was right in front of me. "Now if you would be so kind as to come with me." he said as he held out his hand. I quickley backed up putting some space between us. He only seemed amused with my resistance and walked forward. I started to run, but Finitevus was already one step ahead of me. He opened a warp ring under my feet, and I started to fall through but stopped when he made it smaller around my waist. I looked like a person with only half a body. I tried pulling on the sides of the ring to free myself but it wouldn't budge. Finitevus walked over and said "Ah ah ah. An amusing effort, but its useless." He stood in front of me and made a slight bow and said "My name is Dr. Finitevus its a pleasure to meet you my dear." Before I could tell him I already knew and to let me go he widened the warp ring and I fell through.

I landed on a hard metallic floor and found myself in a huge lab. There were papers and documents everywhere, there was test tubes and jars filled with who knows what, and some machines were scatered around the room.

Dr. Finitevus came out of a warp ring right next to me followed by the Destructix. It was then I noticed all the trouble I had given the Destructix. Fiona came out first, She looked scared as hell, I guess I could'nt blame her. Second, was Scourge he was probably the worst. He was limping and he still had that cut in his arm from when I hit him with an arrow. After him was Simian, Lightning, and Flying they seemed to be unharmed. And last came Predator he looked like he just got mulled by a dog... Which he did. Some pride swelled in me for seeing the damage I did.

Dr. Finitevus started to give commands."Scourge, Predator go to the infermery and patch yourselves up. Lightning, Flying I want you on stand by. Fiona, Simian you are dissmissed." They all nodded and walked to the door. As Scourge passed me he said " I hope he dissects you." And he left along with the other Destructix. Leaving just me and Dr. Finitevus. For once I wished the Destructix would come back. "Well then, shall we get started?" asked Finitevus. I wanted to say no but I knew my opinion didn't matter.

I wanted to try and run again but that wouldnt be a good idea. I didnt know where I was or how to get around, and not to mention I could hear Lightning and Flying guarding the door just in case I tried anything. I hated to tell myself this but I had to cooperate for now. I stood up and gave him a shakey nod. Finitevus smiled and said "Smart girl, please come this way." I hesitantly followed him as he lead me to one of the machines. He told me to set down my backpack and lay down the bed that went into the machine. I placed my bag next to the machine and layed down as he walked behind a computer typed in a few things and pressed a button for the machine to start. I felt the bed slowly move in, and a red light covered my body. I realized that machine was just a scanner and sighed in relief.

When the machine was done he came over and beckoned for me to follow him. As I walked I thought I saw a small flash of pale pink come from the other side of the room I blinked a few times and looked at Dr. Finitevus to see if he saw it to. But It looked like he didnt see anything. I shook it off and decided it was just my imagination.

We arrived at a chair that looked like the kind you sit on at the dentist except it had straps on it. Dr. Finitevus told me to sit there, as I did he straped me in so I could'nt move. This one got me worried. He went over to a table that had some supplies on it and started working. He suddenly asked me "What is your name child?" _I guess Dr. Finitevus likes to know his victims names before he turns them inside out_. "Nicki" I responded. "Nicki?" he repeated. He thought for a moment and said " Is that your real name or the one that your Lexie- Na gave you?"

_Who was Lexie- Na_? Before I could ask he came over with a syringe that had a needle the size of a porcupine's quill. I hated needles you could not get me within ten miles of one. I tried to move away but I couldn't break free. He drew a saltwater solution into the syringe and placed a chip on top. The chip was no bigger than a grain of rice, but I soon had all my attention back on the needle.

He grabbed my hand and looked for a spot to put the needle in. I kept on trying to break free which was making it hard for him to pinpoint an area. He let go of my hand and I looked over at him. He was glaring at me and said "If you dont want the needle I wont use it." My muscles relaxed alittle, but he wasn't done. "I can just put you to sleep, cut your head open, and place the chip in your brain if that is what you prefer?" My eyes got wider and my muscles tensed again. Finitevus noticed and said "Now are you going to hold still or am I going to have to use... other methods?" He pulled out a anesthesia tank to show me he wasnt kidding. I nodded my head signifying that I would behave. "Very good." he said as he put away the tank and picked up the needle and held it to my hand "Now hold still."

He found a good place to insert the needle and wiped my that part of my hand off with alchohol. After that he pushed the needle into the skin. It hurt like crazy! I wanted to move my hand away but I didnt want some chip inplanted in my brain for the rest of my life. Sweat started trickling down my face and I started to feel light headed. _Why do I have to be such a wimp around needles_? Then he finally he pulled the needle out and started to wrap my hand. "What was that!" I yelled. Finitevus calmly looked up at me and said "A tracking device." A tracking device? Why did it have to be a tracking device! _What bussiness does he have knowing where I am at all times! _He looked over at my left arm and said "I told the Destructix I wanted you unharmed" he walked off grumbling something about how this will push his plans back.

I suddenly remembered what he said before and asked him "Who is Lexie- Na." He laughed and said "Who is Lexie- Na she asks! You should know you've been living with her all your life until about a year ago." He when to a cabinet and pulled out a jar and gauze. "What do you mean." I asked my voice starting to get shakey. He had moved over to my left arm and started to treat the mark that Scourge left. "Lexi- Na was an agent from Albion who was assigned to protect you, you may know her as your mother." He said as he started to spread the contentents of the jar on my arm. "Thats not possible my mother was a human not an echidna!" I yelled. "You would be suprised what that despicable technology from Albion could do." He calmly said" I started to get light headed "Y-your lying!" I yelled. He started wraping my arm with gause "Sorry "Nicki" but I have no reason to lie to you at this moment" he tied a knot in the gauze and called to Lightning and Flying. He undid the straps and I sat up while lightning and flying stood to await orders. Take her bag and escort our guest to her room. "Yes sir." Said both of them. Flying went to go get my bag while Lightning nudged me forward.

The walk was long and silent. We went down many halls and far away from Finitevus's lab, and I was fine with that. The farther I am away from Finitevus the better. We finally came to my room and before Lightning could say _we're here_ I ripped my bag from flying, I forced the door open, went in, and Slammed it in there faces. I put my ear to the door see if they were still there all I heard was. " _hehehe shes mad!" "It doesnt matter Flying our job is done lets go" "Okay hehehe!"_

I made sure they were gone then I dove on the bed and started to cry. I have not cried since my mother died. Or should I say Lexie- Na. I hated Finitevus! I didnt hate him Because he threatened me, or sent the Destructix to kidnap me I hated him because he was right. I knew in my heart that he was telling the truth. My mother was not who I thought she was. Mike and Richard were just a part of her act. But I found it hard to stay mad at her. She treated me with real love and compassion. She even took precautions and made sure I could defend myself by teaching me archery. And right now she would be telling me to stop crying and make a plan.

So I whipped my tears away and started to think. And thought back to the fight Scourge and I had. That was the first time I ever felt that strong and I remembered the power that surrounded me. But that couldnt have been it there had to be more to my ability than just that. I brought up my hand closed my eyes and focused on channeling my energy into my hand. I felt a bit of warmth spark in my stomach, then the warmth moved up to my shoulder and down my arm and gathered in my hand. When I opened my eyes there was a glowing white sphere floating a few inches above my hand. I couldn't take my eyes off of it, it felt like I had done this before but I didnt know when. Another light came from my bag and I stopped the energy flow in my hand and the sphere disapeared.

I took off the bag and reached in. And of course the first thing I brougt out was the velvet pouch the stone was in. I felt crumbling inside and I got worried. _I thought Lexie-Na said it couldn't be destroyed!_ I opened the pouch and dumped the contents on my bed. I must have have had the evilest smile because what I saw was a glowing, white Chaos Emerald! I picked it up Thank you Lexie- Na! I quickly put it back in the pouch and put that in the backpack.

I went under the covers and thought _Enjoy this while you can Finitevus but you showed me who I am, and I'm going to do everything in my power to stop you!_


	5. A Friendly Face?

I woke up a couple hours later and saw that breakfast was at the side of my bed. My stomach growled reminding me I haven't eaten since morning yesterday. The plate had scrambled eggs and a piece of toast on it. I quickly scarfed it down, and looked around at the room, not really remembering most of its details from last night.

It was a simple room with beige walls and a wood floor. The only other piece of furniture other than the bed was a vanity. On the other side of the room was a door that I guessed lead to a bathroom.

I smiled, because where there's a bathroom there's a shower! And I needed one, I jumped out of bed and immediately regretted it. Every single bone in my body ached all at once. _I guess I'm starting to pay for everything that happened yesterday_. But I was so determined to get a shower, that I walked to the bathroom ignoring all my joints that were screaming in protest.

When I entered the bathroom I found that there were cloths left for me to. I watched them suspiciously; there was a pair of cotton pants, a white t-shirt, and some sort of ugly armored sock to protect my feet. I shrugged,picking at pieces of my now tattered shirt and jeans, I guessed I could wear the shirt and pants, but there was no way I was wearing those industrial socks_. _I took off the gauze that Finitevus had wrapped my arm in yesterday, and saw that the burn Scourge left me with was almost fully healed. I made a mental note to get some of whatever he spread on my arm. I took off my old ripped up cloths and turned the water on.

Ten minutes later I was done. It felt good to wash away what happened yesterday. Well at least on the outside. I combed through my wet hair with my fingers, braided it, and put on the cloths that were left for me. I went back in the bedroom and immediately noticed that there was an origami bird on my bed, and my plate was gone! I walked over and picked up the beautifully folded bird. I was officially creeped out. _Someone was in my room while I was in the shower! _I looked around to see if they were still here whoever they were must have just left because it was just me.

I thought if they just left, I could still catch them. I ran to the door and grabbed the doorknob and tried to pull the door open but it wouldn't budge. I tried again but it was no good, I was locked in. I growled in frustration then sighed realizing I should have known this would happen. I walked over to the vanity and sat down, and when looked in the mirror, I gasped!

My eyes looked different! They used to be a hazy green with a tinge of gold around the pupil, however now they were a dazzling sapphire blue. They reminded me of wolfs eyes, they were intense yet beautiful. I pressed my fingers to the glass to make sure that was me, I stayed like that for a while longer until I finally tore myself away, abruptly deciding that I was going to bed early.

A few hours later I woke up to the smell of food. This time it was a loaf of bread and some cheese. I got mad at myself for taking a nap and wished I could have seen who delivered these. I ate the loaf of bread and some of the cheese. After I was done I kept the plate and waited. They were going to have to pick up the plate and bring another meal sooner or later. So I waited for what seemed like hours I started to nod off and almost fell asleep when I heard the door creek open.

I became more alert and looked around to see who it was. But everything was dark; whoever it was must have turned the lights out. Hoping they haven't left yet I ran and turned the lights on. I jumped when I saw a wide eyed figure standing right in front of me.

It was a female echidna that had to be no more than nine years old. She was a very familiar shade of pale pink and her shaggy hair was an even paler pink that almost looked white. She wore a tight black vest that only emphasized her light color. Her eyes were hazel and they never seemed to blink, they just kept staring at the plate I had in my hand. _She must be the person whose bringing me my meals. _I nervously handed her the plate and she walked over to a tray that was on my bed. Okay that was awkward; she didn't even acknowledge my presence.

As she moved I noticed she never made a sound which would explain why I was not able to hear her before. Her feet moved fast and lightly making it look like she was gliding across the floor. When she made it over to the tray she worked just a quietly as she walked. She brought out a piece of paper and started to fold it. Her hands moved very fast. Before I knew it she had made a origami dog. She picked up the tray and glided over to me and handed me the well-made dog. She started to leave when I came back to my senses and yelled "Hey wait!"

She slowly turned around and walked back into the room and looked at me with her unblinking eyes. There was an awkward silence until I finally said the most clever witty thing I ever thought up "Uh.. Hi."

"Hello." she responded dreamily. Her voice was very quiet.

"What's your name?" I asked. She looked away and looked like she was thinking until she finally looked back to me and said "I don't have one."

I chuckled a bit and expected her to say she was kidding and tell me her name. But she didn't laugh she just stared at me with her unblinking eyes. I realized she

Wasn't kidding and I asked "You don't you don't have a name?"

"Well, at least I don't remember, Father made it so I couldn't remember anything" she said. I walked over to the bed sat down and wondered_ what kind of father would make it so their own child couldn't remember a thing?_ The very thought made me sick.She was still standing at the door were I left her, and I motioned for her to come over. She glided over and sat right next to me. I figured it was pointless asking her how she forgot her name because she probably wouldn't remember that either. So I asked her the next best question.

"How did you get here?" I asked.

"My father brought me here." She answered. I watched her with confusion_ what is Finitevus doing letting family's in here? "_Who's your father." I finally asked?

She picked up a piece of her hair and started to twirl it around her fingers "Dr. Finitevus" she answered. My eyes got as big as hers.

"D-dr. Finitevus is your dad? I asked

"Yes, he is." She said dully "He doesn't like me using his full name though." I lept off the bed ran to the other side of the room and got in a fighting stance expecting this to be some sort of trap, however she just sat there and did nothing.

"Are you okay? Why did you run over there?" she had stopped twirling her hair and seemed concerned. I looked back over to her I looked at her more closely, and thought how_ can this kid be the daughter of ? She was nothing like him. _I heard her soft voice again.

"You must be hungry, please eat. It would be unfortunate if you starved." she said. My pendent started to warm up against my skin. But instead of a burning feeling it was a comfortable warmth almost like it was telling me_ "It's okay you can trust her." _My pendent has never driven me wrong yet, so I walked back and sat down next to her.

She handed me the tray and I was not disappointed. It had one of my favorite meals, potato soup and bread. I happily ate the soup and tore the roll in half. I ate one half and held out the second half to her.

She looked at it confused. I smiled and said "Here take it." I figured since she was so pale she was in poor health, and since Finitevus was her dad she was going to need as much help as she could get. She gingerly took the roll and took a few nibbles, then smiled. For being Dr. Finitevus's kid she was kinda cute.

She stopped eating suddenly, and ran to go gather the tray. "Whats wrong?" I asked

"I have been here too long, and have said too much. I have to leave." And before I could stop her she ran out the door with a pale pink flash. I stood motionless for a moment and started to chuckle when I realized why her color was so familiar. She was the pink flash I saw in Dr. Finitevus's lab. I guess she was curious to see who the newcomer was. I lay back on my bed and realized that that was the closest thing to a friend I had here.

I smiled at the thought. I held my hand out in front of me and made a white glowing sphere in my hand. I took in its reassuring light and finally closed my hand to make it disappear. I laid back but I couldn't sleep because all I kept on thinking about was that kid.


	6. Bonds

Over the next couple days our meetings became a regular thing. I would wait until she came to deliver food. We would eat, talk, and then she would be on her way.

I even gave her a name, I was tired of calling her "Hey" or "You" so I called her Nadi-La. As soon as I told her the name I thought of she smiled ear to ear like I had just given her a bar of gold.

I would be dissapointed when she had to leave. She was the only conection I had to outside of my room. The door was always locked, and Finitevus has been suspiciously quiet. I tried not to think about it much, but I couldn't help but be worried about that.

I usually kept those thoughts at bay by listening to my ipod, or practicing my newfound power. It turns out I can do much more than just make a glowing sphere. One day I was holding my hand out to to make a glowing sphere but nothing happened. I wondered why I couldn't summon one. I felt the warmth in my palm but nothing was appearing. I kept on trying until I felt something tap my shoulder. I looked over and screamed.

My backpack was floating in midair! Ther was a familliar white glow surrounding it, and that made me realize it was me who was doing this! I reached out to grab it but it floated out of my reach. It took me all night to finally get it back. It took me hours but I finally managed to make things float to me, and not away from me.

Right now I was I was listening to my ipod waiting for Nadi-La's visit. When I heard the door creek open. I looked above my ipod to see Nadi-La comming into the room with a tray in her hand, and of course pieces of paper.

Nadi-La's taken to teaching me how to make oragami figures, and I've gotten quite good at it. But Nadi-La was much better, you name it she could make it.

"Hello" she said as she was coming in. She walked over to my bed and I saw the tray had mashed potatos with green beans. I split everything in half and gave half of my meal to her. When we were done eating, she handed me a piece of paper and started to show me how to make a oragami flower. Halfway through I asked her a question."Hey Nadi-La."

"Hmm?"

I took a deep breath and asked "Can you tell Dr. Finitevus I want to talk to him?" She dropped her paper and looked over at me."Why would you want to do that?" She asked.

"I want to tell him to let me out of this stupid room. Its getting stuffy in here."

"Y-you know I can ask him for you" Her hands started shaking. I noticed and put my hands on her shoulders and smiled "I want to show him that I'm not scared of him. And besides.." I took my hands off her shoulders "This is my battle not yours." She starred at me for a second before realizing it was time to leave. She gathered up her things and left.

I laid back on the bed and made my backpack levitate to me. I grabbed the velvet pouch and took out the chaos emerald, and held it close and wispered "Lexi-Na give me strength..."

I awoke to the sound of a machine moving. I looked around and saw a square on my wall open up to reveal what looked like a television screen. I smiled realizing Nadi-La kept her promise, but it went away when I realized I was going to talk to Dr. Finitevus again.

I noticed a faint glowing coming from my hand and I saw that I was still holding the Chaos Emerald! I panicked and hid it behind my back right before the screen turned on revealing Finitevus in his lab.

"You wanted to speak with me? He asked. As soon as he spoke chills went down my spine. I grabed my pendent with my free hand, took a deep breath and said "Yes I did... I want out of here."

He laughed a cold laugh. But I was determined to keep a calm composure and not let him get to me. "Im terribly sorry my dear but thats not an option."

"Well at least let me out of this stupid room!" I yelled. He paused for a second."You want access to my base?" he asked.

"Pretty much." I said. I was suprised to see that I havent fainted yet.

He looked away like he was thinking about it until he finally said "Fine." I was suprised he considered it more or less say yes. I was surprised had a lecture ready and everything but I was relived to know that I didnt have to use it. But my feeling of relief dissapeared when he looked and saw that I had my hand behind my back. He narrowed his eyes and asked "Whats behind your back?"

My calm composure disapeared and a bead of sweat trickled down the side of my face. Finitevus was sitting there waiting for me to show him, fortunately I knew what to do. I focused on the emerald until I felt it lift out of my palm. I smiled and innocently said "Nothing." and held out both of my hands to him to show him there was nothing there.

He narrowed is eyes and said "I suppose so... I'll send someone down to unlock your door." he pressed a button then the screen turned off and the wall started to close. Once it was fully closed I sighed in releif.

I turned around to see the chaos emerald still floating. I grabed it and stuffed it in my bag, so whoever he sent down wouldn't see it. As soon as I sat down I heard the door click and start to open. _That was fast._ I stood up and got in a fighting stance but relaxed once I saw it was just Nadi-La. She smiled when she saw me "Thanks for telling him." I said.

"Your welcome, but I think I should warn you I have overheard some of what Scourge has said since you came... I would stay away from him."

I sighed and said "Well Im going to have to face him sooner of later"

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I'm planing to escape." Nadi-La's face filled with disbelief."E-escape? Why would you want to escape?" She asked.

I knelt down to her level and softly said "Do you really think Finitevus is going to leave me alone forever? He brought me here for a reason, and I doubt it was to lock me up in this room. I may not be armed with my bow and arrows but if I dont try I might end up like Knuckles or Dimitri." Tears started streaming down her face "Please, come with me." I asked.

She steped back a few steps."G-go with you? I-I cant." She said

I started to say "Nadi-La you know you dont belong here if you come with me you'll be..."

"YOU CAN'T LEAVE!" she screamed. Before I could respond she ran out of the room. I tried to catch up to her but she was to fast. I ran through the hallways to see if I could find any sign of her but I had no luck. I slowed down and started to take in my surroundings.

I reconized this hallway, it was one of the hallways I went down on my first day here. I kept on exploring the base and found that it was smaller than I thought it was. Basically it was only rooms that were needed. I walked past a kitchen a bathroom and a couple of other rooms that I guessed belonged to the Destructix. I steered clear of them because I heard noises coming from some of the rooms.

I kept on walking and I cringed when I reached the door that lead to Finitevus's lab. I wanted to walk away, but I was curious to see what was he was doing in there. So I slowly placed my ear to the door and started to listen to see if I could make out what he was doing. All I heard was small clicks that I guessed was just him typing. I kept on listening until the typing suddenly stopped. I leaned in closer and jumped when I heard Finitevus say "I know you there Nicki."

I ran from the door as fast as I could and turned into a random room and closed the door behind me. When I turned around I saw that I was in the kitchen I looked around and screamed when I saw Flying Frog at the counter. He looked like he was making what I guessed was a sandwhich. It looked like he just grinded up whatever he could find in the refrigerator and put it on a bun. When he was done he took his sandwhich and walked right by me and out of the kitchen, leaving a huge mess behind. "_I guess he doesnt have time to be creepy at dinner."_

Speaking of dinner I was pretty hungry, so I walked over to the refrigerator and saw that they didnt have to big of a selection. I poked around until I found some rolls and a apple. I sat down and started to eat my small dinner.

While I was eating I couldn't help but think how I was going to escape. I kept on thinking until I finished my last roll but nothing came to me. Finitevus thought of everything. First, I couldnt even find the exit so how could I leave? Second, the Destructix could easily recapture me even with my powers. Thrid, I STILL HAD THAT STUPID TRACKING DEVICE IN MY ARM!

I hit my head off the table in sheer frustration, and I kept my head on the table until I heard a scream coming from outside the door. I got up and peeked outside to see what was going on. I gasped when I saw most of the Destructix surrounding Scourge who was holding a small beat up echidna in the air with one arm. "NADI- LA!" I screamed.

Scourge noticed me and and malicious smile appeared on his face. "Well look who it is, remember me?" He asked. He dropped Nadi- La and I ran over to help her. Scourge laughed and said "Aww look, the two freaks have bonded."

I looked up and screamed "SHUT UP YOU BASTARD, WHY DID YOU DO THIS!" Scourge shrugged and said "The kid thought she could take me, so I taught her a lesson."

"I had to, he was planning on hurting you." She squeeked. I was so surprised I couldn't speak. No one has ever stood up for me like that before. I hugged her and stood up to face Scourge."Well maybe someone should teach YOU a lesson.." I smiled and said "SNOT". Before I could do anything, Scourge punched me straight in the stomach.

"NICKI!" Nadi- La screamed. I moved back a few steps cluching my stomach. I looked up and saw Finitevus had come out of his lab to see what was going on. I was determined to not show any fear, especially in front of him.

I stood up and coldly said "You can beat me up all you want Scourge, but if you ever touch Nadi-La again...I'll kill you!" Nadi- La Looked at me in astonishment and a tear streamed down her cheek "_I guess she's not used to people standing up for her either."_

Scourge laughed and said "You think you can tell me what to do?" He got in a spinball but he didn't aim at me, he aimed at Nadi- La! I completely forgot about keeping my powers a secret, and did something I've wanted to do for a long time. I made a glowing sphere in my hand and blasted it at him. The sphere traveled faster than he did, and when it made impact there was a burst of light and a huge explosion.

It took a while for the smoke to clear but when it did, I saw a set of cracks in the wall and Scourge laying under it with Fiona tending to him. She looked over at me with a mixture of surprise and hatred.

I looked over and saw Dr. Finitevus was gone and Nadi-La staring at me more wide-eyed than usual. I backed up a few steps and sprinted straight toward my room. No one even tried to stop me, _I guess they were afraid of getting there heads blasted off. _Once I got to my room I ran in shut the door behind me and leaned my back against it. I took a deep breath and slid down to the floor.

_How could something that seemed so innocent at first be so destructive?_ I thought. I sat there for a while then I got up and walked over to my bed, deciding that I have had enough for one day. I laid down and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up to someone violently skaking me and yelling to get up. _Oh great the Destructix came to get there revenge. _But when I sat up and my vision cleared it wasn't the Destructix. It was Nadi-La standing there with a large box siting right next to her. She didn't have a tray, so I could tell it must have been in the middle of the night. "What are you doing here so early?" I asked.

"I'm going with you!" she said while lifting the box on to the bed."What?" I asked

"You heard me, I made my decision. I'm going to help you escape!"


	7. Plan Put Into Action

I was speechless for the moment, then I smiled and said "Thank you I'm glad you changed your mind but how are we going to do it? There isn't even a exit here." I said.

She started to open the box "That's because the only way is by a warp ring. Father wanted to make sure no one could get in... or out."

"What's in the box?" I asked

"I can't guarantee that everything will go well, so I got a few things that will help you if anything goes wrong." every item she brought out was better than the next and by the time she was done I was the happiest I've been in weeks.

There was a tight grey t-shirt, a new pair of jeans, a thin brown leather jacket, a knife and sheath, hunting boots, and best of all a new juniper bow that came with a quiver. I picked it up and felt that it was a really good bow... to good of a bow "Where did you get all this?" I asked.

"I'll tell you later" she said. "I have to go and finish modifying the arrows, while I'm gone you should get changed because as soon as I get back we'll discuss a plan and make our move. She turned around and walked out of the room, but she didn't glide like she usually did, today she walked with a sense of purpose and dignity. I couldn't help but smile at how much she's changed since I met her. I got up and went into the bathroom and started to change.

When I was done I put my hair in a high pony tail and went out to the vanity to see how I looked. I was impressed everything that she gave me fit perfectly. I looked strong and deadly, a welcome change. The only thing missing was the arrows. I heard a knock on the door and quickly picked up the knife and put it in the back of my boot. I ran over to the door and opened it.

But it wasn't Nadi- La instead it was the huge frame of Simian. I took a few steps back _Oh shit….._

_**Meanwhile**_

__Nadi- La was running through the hallway until she finally came to a the trap door. She pulled it up and started walking down the stairs that lead to her room.

Before she would always wonder why her father didn't give her a regular room like everyone else, but she knew why now. Ever since Nicki saved her from Scourge many things were becoming clearer.

She knew now that her father didn't care for her, if he did he would have helped her against Scourge... Like Nicki did.

At first she was confused, she wondered why Nicki would put herself in danger just to save her. Then, she remembered what Nicki had said "_You can beat me all you want Scourge, but if you ever touch Nadi-La again...I'll kill you!" _Once she thought of that she knew what she needed to do. Nicki was the only one who really cared about her and she had to do everything she could to help.

She snapped back into reality when she heard low growling coming from bottom of the steps. "Its okay its just me" she said as she entered her room. The growling stopped and a black furred dog ran up to her from the other side of the room.

She met this dog a couple days ago when it fell out of a warp ring and nearly crushed her. Over the past couple days she's been keeping this dog in secret, something she wouldn't usually do. She cringed at the thought of her father finding out. She has seen what her father can do to mobians, she did not wish for any of that to happen to her.

But something was different about this dog, she knew she couldn't just give him up to her dad. He even brought her a warp ring, something no matter how hard she tried she could never get her hands on.

She gave him a pat on the head and started to make the finishing touches on the arrows. She examined them and was quite pleased with her work, and excited to find out what Nicki would think of them.

But little did she know she was already to late...

"LET ME GO!" I screamed. I was suddenly dumped on a cold metallic floor and saw Simian leaving the room. I heard a cold voice that made me jump and I didn't need to be a genius to know who it was.

"Hello my dear." Said Dr. Finitevus as he looked over me "That is interesting attire."

I got up and brushed myself off "Well, just thought I'd dress for the occasion"

He laughed "Of course, and a great occasion it is!"his eyes locked with mine "Today is the day you join me in cleansing this world."

My panic level went on high. I knew something like this was going to happen, but why did he have to do it today? "I'll never join you." I coldly said.

His eyes narrowed "Oh you will join me, weather you want to or not." He picked up his hand and made a flame of negative chaos energy. At the same time I made a sphere of white chaos energy.

Finitevus's eyes narrowed "Your power is impressive but you are inexperienced. You can do things one could only dream of doing. Join me and I will teach you how to use your abilities to become invincible.

I showed him what I thought of that idea by blasting my chaos sphere at him. But instead of it hitting him and blowing up he caught it and crushed it in his hand "Very well then"

He shot out a wave of negative chaos energy. I dodged it and countered with another sphere of my own chaos energy, he deflected it and opened up a warp ring.

He shot chaos energy through it with one hand, and shot a ball of chaos energy at me with another. I dodged the first one but then a warp ring opened up behind me and his chaos energy hit me straight in the back and knocked me half way across the lab.

I crashed into one of his machines and landed on the cold metallic floor. I tried to get back up, but my arms and legs wouldn't work. "It's useless." Said Dr. Finitevus as he slowly walked over to me. " I hit you with chaos energy specially made to temporarily stun whomever I use it on." He picked me up and walked over to a table where he set me back down.

The only thing I wanted to do at that moment was run, But I couldn't even twitch my fingers more or less move my legs. I was at Dr. Finitevus's mercy, and there was no stopping him from doing what he was about to do.

He placed his hand over my forehead and let out a dark chuckle "Just relax, it will be over before you know it." Suddenly my body was engulfed in negative chaos energy and a burning sensation spread all throughout my body_._

I tried to regain control of my body I was even able to twitch a few limbs. But I suddenly stopped when a wave of tiredness suddenly came. My eyes started to get heavy and eventually closed.

When I opened my eyes I was in some sort of pure white world. I didn't have a single thought worry of fear, in fact I felt completely at peace. I didn't care that that Finitevus was brainwashing me, I didn't care that in a few moments I would be his to control, I didn't care that I could almost feel my will bending to his ideals. _No wonder he was able to turn Knuckles into Enerjack._

I heard Finitevus's voice "_You are more than just an overlander you know... You could have the power of a god." _I saw an image of him appear and start to walk toward me. "I can make you more powerful than anyone, including your mother."

"You know who my mother is?" I asked my voice barley a whisper. Finitevus walked up and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, your mother is the legendary goddess Aurora of course."

"How do you know?"

"That pendent you wear bears her mark. And the power you possess should be proof enough."

I heard a distant cry but couldn't make out what it said. Finitevus held out his hand "If you join me I will teach you to use her power to do anything you can dream of. I was about to take hold of his hand until I heard the cry again.

"Nicki!"

_Nicki? Whos Nicki_? After a moment I realized I was Nicki! And after that everything came rushing back to me. My name is Nicki, I am fifteen years old, my weapon of choice was my bow and arrow, and that scream belonged to Nadi- La, and I also heard barking, that sounded like Tails!

"NO!" Finitevus screamed "Dont listen to her shes-"

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" I screamed. I summoned all the power I had and pushed his image away. Then, I heard a yell and a loud bang.

I snapped back into reality, I couldn't see well, and had a huge headache. I felt someone grab my hand. "Hurry get up! He won't stay down for long!"

I did as she commanded. I felt a yank on my hand and started running. As we ran I head her she started yelling things at me "Hang in there Nicki, we're almost there, Don't let fathers power affect you!" I heard yelling coming from behind us._ I guess we woke up the Destructix._

I saw a smudge of gold light and then the sweet smell of fresh air blew over me. We were outside! But my relief was short lived, when I felt a sharp pain in my arm.

Damn it was a liquid dart. I felt my body go numb the world started to spin around me and I fell to the ground. Nadi- La pulled on my arm "Please don't pass out now we're almost there!"

"Nadi- La go without me." I wispered

"No I can't-"

"GO NOW!" I screamed with the last bit of strength I had.

She didn't move for a second, but she reluctantly ran off with a black smudge following her. I listened to her footsteps until I couldn't hear them anymore.

I was happy knowing at least she would be okay. I looked back up at the sky wondering if this was the last time I would see it with my own eyes. I knew once one of the Destructix found me they would take me back to Finitevus, so he could finish what he started. I would just be a mindless puppet of Finitevus's for the rest of my life.

Even though the sky was spinning, the stars were still beautiful. I started to hear yells but it wasn't just the Destructix there was someone else there. My eyes were geting heavier and my vision was going blank. I suddenly felt gentle hands slip under me, and carefully pick me up off the ground.

Before I could look to see who it was I fell into darkness.


	8. Team Chaotix

"Hey guys, I think shes coming around!"

"Really? Its about time, shes been out for the better part of a week."

"Nicki, thank goodness, are you okay?"

"Augh, where am I?" I groaned. I started to open my eyes. As my vision came into focus I saw that the concerned figures of Nadi-La, Mighty, Knuckles, and Tails laying at the foot of my bed, watching me intently. "What happened? I thought the Destructix recaptured me."

"You were lucky." said Knuckles "Your friends here caught us while we were in the middle of a meeting and told us what was happening. We found the Destructix and fought them off while mighty found you unconcious a few yards away and carried you all the way here."

"Where are we?"

"We're in the New Mobotropolis hospital. You've been out for three days.

"Three days!" I repeated. I tried to get up but a sudden dizziness overcame me and forced me back down on the bed.

"Be careful!" said a new voice. I looked over and saw that Dr. Quack was working at a table. "If you insist on getting up at least ask for help."

"S-sorry." I said.

It's okay, just be careful you were in pretty rough condition when the Chaotix brought you here.

"Anyway, I know you've been through a lot but could I ask you to tell us what happened?" asked Knuckles. I nodded my head, he called out for the rest of the Chaotix. Tails lifted his head and growled when they came in.

"Its alright boy." I wispered. He wimpered and put his head back down still keeping an eye on the Chaotix. Vector pulled up a seat by my bed while the rest of the team made themselves comfortable around the room.

Dr. Quack walked toward the door and said "Well, theres no need for me to be here, gotta get home to the wife and kids. It was nice meeting you ..."

"Nicki"

"Nicki huh? Well it was nice meeting you." He closed the door and was gone.

"So your name is Nicki." said Vector.

"Yes, it is."

"So Nicki can you tell us what has happened from start to finish." I hesitated, I didn't know if I should tell them or not. What if they didn't believe me or thought I was insane? But I rememberd this was the Chaotix, and if there was anyone who would understand my situation it would be them.

I sighed and said "Fine I'll tell you what happened, but dont say I'm insane when I'm done."

"Deal. Ray wright this down."

Ray flew over and brought out a pencil and paper. "I-i-im ready when you are."

I smiled and started from the very beginning when Lexie-Na gave me the stone and pendent. After that I talked about how the Destructix kidnaped me and brought me here. I stopped when I got to the part about Finitevus putting a tracking device in my arm. I brought my hand up to my face and it was wraped in bandages. Mighty calmed me down when he said Nadi- La had told them, and they already removed it. I breathed a sigh of releif and continued.

As I told the story all the Chaotix were listening intently and Ray's pencil was getting every word I said. The only part I had trouble on was when Finitevus tried to brain-wash me I couldn't remember it well for some reason. Vector said it was okay and to keep going, so I finished with Nadi- La helping me escape and me collapsing.

Everyone was silent for a moment until Knuckles finally said "You are very lucky your still yourself. Dr. Finitevus's hex's are extremely powerful."

"I know, I would have been goner if it weren't for Nadi- La." I glanced down at her and she blushed.

"She already told us her side of the story" said Espio who was leaning against a wall "She is brave beyond her years." Nadi- La's face was as red as a tomato now. I chuckled until Julie- Su asked the next question.

"Where are your parents" she asked.

That must have triggered something because I felt a sharp pain in my head and my pendent started to warm up. I lurched forward and held my head in my hands. I remembered everything Finitevus had said while he was trying to brain-wash me. "Hey Nicki you okay?" asked Vector.

"Huh? I'm fine I just have a bit of a headache."

"Knuckles, I think we should stop now" said Julie-Su "The past couple days must have been rough on her it would be a good idea to leave her alone for now."

"Your right Su, come on guys lets go." said Knuckles. The Chaotix nodded in agreement and they all started to file out. Knuckles stopped at the door turned around and said "Just so you know we sent for Merlin Prower. He can remove any fragments of Dr. Finitevus's power that may be left in you. Its just a precaution no need to be worried, until then Mighty, Julie-Su, and myself will be staying here we'll be right down the hall if you need us. I nodded and Knuckles shut the door.

Once they were gone I turned to Nadi-La who was playing with a piece of her hair and said "Thank you Nadi-La. I owe you my life."

"No, I owe you. If you wouldn't have showed me that I didn't belong there I would have nevr become my own person. Now if you excuse me I believe the Chaotix were right I think I should leave you alone for now." I wanted to protest but she was right so I let her leave.

Tails got up from the end of the bed and came closer to me, I hugged him and said "I missed ya boy. Thank you for being so brave." He huffed in response. I grabbed my pendent and and thought about what Finitevus had said.

I closed my eyes and thought Is the goddess Aurora really my mother?


	9. Getting Acquainted

I woke up to a intense light shining in my eyes. I rolled over and pulled my blanket over my head. "Mmph five more minutes."

"I recommend you get out of bed you've been sleeping for twelve hours"

"Twelve hours?" I moaned. I cracked my eyes open and saw a brown lynx with black beaded hair and a purple dress standing at the foot of my bed. I immediately sat up .

"Nicole!"

Nicole backed up and looked down "I'm sorry to be a nuisance I'll leave you alone." she said as her nanite's started to dissolve.

"No wait!" I yelled. She stopped dissolving and looked over at me.

"Your fine. In fact, would you mind helping me out with something?" She looked surprised, but her body reformed and she walked over to a chair and sat down.

"What would you like my help with?" she asked

I walked over and sat down beside her "Well first things first, I would like to talk with Dimitri." Dimitri practically knew everything that had to do with chaos powers. There was a good chance he could help me.

A panicked look appeared on Nicoles face "How do you know about him?" she whispered.

"I'll tell you later, so are you going to let me talk to him or not?" I said hoping that she would not ask anymore questions.

"I-I will but I think you have two things you need to do before that." Nicole said

"What?" I asked.

She walked over to my closet, opened it up and pulled out a pair of charred, muddy cloths that I recognized were the ones that I wore when I escaped from Finitevus' base.

"First, I think you should get some new cloths."

"Aw, I really liked those." I sighed and asked "what's my next priority?"

As soon as I said that my stomach growled. Nicole giggled and said "I think you should get something to eat, its already lunch."

I chuckled at my stomachs perfect timing "Would you mind showing me the way down to the cafeteria?" I asked

"Sure, but I don't think you should go down in a hospital robe."

I looked down and noticed I was wearing a hospital robe, and I cringed and said "Yea, But what else can I wear?"

"I can make you something out of nanites if you want."

"I nodded "Sure why not?"

She put away my old dirty cloths and held up held up her hands, and Immediately her nanites started to form into some new cloths for me.

It was pretty cool watching her make something, but I noticed while Nicole was working she seemed very uncomfortable.

When she was done she handed me a simple blue dress. I cringed, I never did like dresses but I didn't want to disappoint Nicole so I put it on and walked over to the mirror.

It was a simple knee length blue dress that had thick straps and a black belt at the waist. I forced a smile and thanked her, then my stomach growled again. Nicole chuckled "I guess we should get you some food, please follow me."

While we walked Nicole talked to me about Mobotropolis and its history until we finally got to the cafeteria. I started to walk in when I looked behind me and saw Nicole was not moving "You coming?" I asked slightly worried.

"I-I'm sorry but I cannot go with you, but it was nice talking to you." Before I could stop her, her nanite's dissolved and she was gone. I sighed and walked into the cafeteria and was welcomed by the sweet smell of food.

I walked over and browsed my choices until I finally settled on potato soup and grilled chicken salad. As I walked over to a table I got some curious looks from the Mobians already there. I shook off the stares and found a empty table near the end of the room. I sat down and started to enjoy my meal.

I was well into my salad when I heard someone yell "Hey Nicki that you?" I looked up and saw Mighty and Ray walking toward my table. "Can we sit here?" he asked. I nodded and they sat down.

When Ray sat down he said "Its good t-t-to see your finally a-a-awake. You feeling better?"

"Better than before." I said

"Thats good to hear." said Mighty as he bit into his sandwich. "You and that kid are pretty tough. I've had a run in with Finitevus before, he's no joke."

"I know if it weren't for Nadi-La I would have never escaped. Where is she any way I haven't seen her all day?" I asked.

"I-i-i think she went out with Amy this m-morning to go shopping." said Ray.

"Huh? Shopping with Amy?"

"A-a-amy insisted that s-she find her new cloths."

"How does Amy know about us?" I asked.

"The freedom fighters have connections with everything that happens in the city." said Mighty "I wouldn't be surprised if all of them knew you were here by now."

Mighty finished and said "Well see ya later Nicki I have some work to do, come on Ray."

Ray got up and went with Mighty "B-bye Nicki!" I smiled waved good bye and went back to my meal. I was kind of disappointed once they left there was no one for me to talk to.

I kept on eating until I saw someone point at me out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't help myself, so started to tune them in.

(what's an over lander doing here? Is it from station square.)

(Who knows, our so called protectors will bring in anyone now a days.)

I got up and threw the rest of my food away and left the cafeteria. I knew what the citizens from New Mobotropolis were like, so I didn't want to hear what else they had to say. No wonder Nicole didn't want to go in there.

As I walked down the hall I heard a soft voice behind me. "Hello Nicki."

I looked behind me and a newly made over Nadi-La standing with non other than Amy Rose. Amy smiled and held out her hand "You must be Nicki my name is Amy it's nice to meet you!"

I shook here hand and looked back at Nadi-La admiring how much better she looked. Amy looked down at Nadi-La and said "She looks much better than she did before, doesn't she.

"She looked great! I exclaimed. Nadi-La looked down and her face got red.

She wore a Chinese style red sleeveless blouse with navy blue pants and red shoes. Her hair reminded me of Juile-Su's except she had the bangs pulled out of here face with a red hairclip.

"Wow Nadi-La you look great!"

"Thank you" said Nadi-La "Julie-Su introduced me to Amy this morning, she noticed my previous appearance and she would not take no for an answer."

Amy laughed and said "Well I couldn't just leave you like that, especially when I heard what you both have been through. And speaking of that I need to take Nicki out shopping to!"

"Me?! Uh, no I'm fine."

"Oh come on I don't bite." said Amy as she grabbed my hands. I tried to protest but before I knew it I was standing in a store with a big pile of cloths in front of me.

I was looking through what she picked out in front of me. I didn't really like any of her choices, so I tried to get her attention but she seemed lost in her own world.

"Amy."

"So what color do you want to try this on in they have it it pink, yellow, blue..."

"Amy!"

"Unless you prefer something differnt they have the cutest skirts over there!"

"AMY!"

That seemed to get her attention she stopped talking and looked over at me. In the most polite tone I could make I said "I would like to pick out my own cloths please."

"Oh, why didn't you say so" said Amy. I'll be waiting over there if you need me." Then she ran off.

I sighed I know Amy's intentions are good but she needs to give me some space.

I started to look around on my own, and aside from skirts and dresses they had a pretty good selection. I found some cloths that I liked and took them to the dressing room to try on.

When I came out I was dressed in a white tank top that had 3 small black target designs on it, I covered it with a thin purple vest jacket that I kept unzipped. I had purple shorts on with purple and white striped stalking's that went up to my thighs.

I did a final check in the mirror and decided that I looked presentable. I walked out of the dressing room and showed Amy.

Amy clapped her hands together in delight "Nicki you look great! But what kind of shoes are you going to wear?".

I smiled "My old lucky boots that's what!"

Amy raised her brow you mean those old things I found in your room? They were covered in mud and they stunk!"

"You dare insult the lucky boots!" I yelled dramatically with a smile on my face.

Amy noticed I was attracting some unwanted attention and quickly shooed me over to the counter.

"No I am not insulting the "lucky boots" now hush up and pay for your cloths!"

On the was back Amy insisted taking me with her to check up on a robbery investigation that happened a few days ago.

Amy ran up to what looked like a mobian boar "Hey John how are you faring since the incident?"

The boar sighed "Fine, a bit frazzled but fine."

I stepped forward "What happened here?"

Amy turned to me with a melocholic look on her face "A bunch of stuff was stolen from Johns shop" she said "A brown leather jacket, a pair of boots, a knife, and a juniper bow and a set of arrows. Am I right correct? "

The boar nodded "Exactly"

I tensed up that's what Nadi-La gave me! I knew I had to get out of there "Well I hope you track down your thief. Amy and I have to go!"

"Wait I want to know more about-" before Amy could finish I grabbed her arm, said bye to John, and I ran out the door dragging Amy behind me.

"Hey let me go! Why were you in such a rush to get out of there?" said Amy. I stopped and tried to come up with an explanation but couldn't think of anything.

Amy's eyes narrowed "Well?"

Suddenly Nicole appeared out of nowhere "Nicki could you come with-"

I seized the chance "Sorry Amy I have to do something important! See ya later!" Before she could stop me sped off with Nicole, relieved to finally get away.

When we were a good half mile across the city I stopped to catch my breath.

"What was that about?" asked Nicole.

"don't ask. What did you need me for?"

"Oh yes hurry and catch your breath we're going to the science center."

"Why?" I asked.

"I'm taking you to go see Dimitri."


	10. The Coming Storm

Dr. Finitevus was in his lab watching the red dot dot on his tracker until it faded and dissapeared all together. Dr. Finitevus sighed _They removed the tracker, at least I got her final location._

Finitevus walked to the other side of his and started to pick up his files that lay scattered all over the floor. He picked up a file that ironically contained Nicki's information, he stared at it for a second and opened it up.

_How could this girl have resisted my hex? _he thought. _My power should have bent her will to my ideals, everything was going according to plan until...she came. _

Dr. Finitevus knew about his daughters relationship with Nicki but he never thought it would affect his plans like it did.

_As soon as she screamed the girls name she started to come out of my hex and got enough of a grip on reality to let out a blast that temporarily disabled me. Even more frusturating was the Destructix coming back saying they had lost them to the Chaotix. _

And now both of them were out of his reach, they were in New Mobotropolis with the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix.

He knew next time he saw his daughter he would have to dispose of her, or risk her giving away some... vital information. As for the girl he knew if Knuckles found out who Nicki really was that would present a huge problem.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard footsteps coming his way, he quickley closed the document and put it on the pile with the rest. He, looked back and saw it was only Scourge the hedgehog.

"What is it Scourge can't you see that Im busy?"

"Heh, sorry Dr. Spooky von evil the Destructix and I are done packing up I just came to see what your orders were."

Finitevus sighed, he hated that nickname but he could never get Scourge to stop calling him that "Just tell them to wait, I'm almost done here." Scourge nodded and started to leave but stopped when he noticed how badly the lab was damaged.

Scourge let out a loud whistle "That kid messed up your lab pretty good, Im supprised she got away so easily, aren't your plans supposed to be flawless?"

As annoyed as Finitevus was with Scourge's comment he had to admit Scourge was right. He was far to careless, he underestimated the girls abilities. He also underestimated that child, he would have never guessed she would have deceived him like she did.

Finitevus got up and put all the files in a box "She may have gotten away this time Scourge, but next time she wont be so lucky."

"What? You mean your still going after her?" asked Scourge

"Of course I am! The circumstances have not changed. Dr. Fintevus looked at Scourge and smiled "All we have to do is wait for the right moment to strike!"

**Meanwhile**

** "**So where is the Science center Nicole." I asked

"Just up ahead, If you dont mind me asking why do you want to talk to Dimitri?"

"I have my reasons."

Nicole looked down "Yes... I understand."

I felt a twinge of guilt "Listen Nicole Im sorry for being so vauge about everything its just I'd rather talk to someone who knew more about my situation."

Nicole was silent, which got me worried _was it some thing I said? _Nicole suddenly stopped and I did the same.

"Were here."

I looked up at the huge yellowish dome shaped building. It was bigger than I thought it would be. Nicole walked up to the door and opened it up. "You coming?"I nodde and walked inside followed by Nicole.

It was dark, but when Nicole turned the lights on I saw that I was surrounded by all means of technology. It was everywhere, on the walls scattered across the floor even some hung off the celling.

As I walked through I saw a very familiar stack of what looked like computer moniters and saw a red glint of light.

Nicole suddenly said "Dimitri are you there?"

I jumped when a voice suddenly said "Nicole, is that you?"

Nicole grabbed my hand and started to drag me over to a dark corner "Dimitri, I'm sorry to disturb you but I broght someone who wanted to talk to you." Nicole walked to the wall and flicked a light switch on.

When the lights came on I jumped back, I was standing right in front of Dimitri. I already knew what Dimitri looked like, but a metallic echidna head wasn't exactly something you saw everyday.

Dimitri noticed my sudden jerk back and sighed "Everyone reacts like that."

A wave of guilt washed over me "I-im sorry, i-it's just I've never seen something like you before. Wich was technically the truth.

"It's alright." said Dimitri "You wanted to talk to me?"

I was so busy looking over Dimitri that I almost forgot that I wanted to ask him something "Yes, I have a problem that you might know a lot about."

Dimitri lifted a metallic eyebrow "Really? Pull up a seat." I looked around but didn't see any chairs. So I pulled up a stack of moniters next to Dimitri's charging machine.

As I sat down Nicole came over "I guess I should leave you two alone now, I'll see you later."

"See ya later Nicole, thanks for your help!" Nicole nodded her head and her nanites dissolved, leaving us alone.

Dimitri and I sat in silence for a while until he finally said "What is your name dear child?"

"Nicki"

"What would you like to ask me about Nicki?" he asked.

"What do you know about chaos powers?"

Dimitri's eyes widened "Why would you want to know about something like that?"

I held out my hand and made a glowing sphere, Dimitris eyes widened. "I wanted to ask you if you could teach me how to use it."

If Dimitri could jump back he probably would have "How long have you been able to do that." he asked staring at the orb in amazement.

I shrugged "I guess I've been able to do it my whole life, but I only discovered it about a week ago." I closed my hand making the sphere dissapear.

Dimitri was quiet for a moment "I've never seen chaos energy like that before. Normal chaos energy when summoned looks like flames. And the color is differnt too."

I was starting to get worried "Is there something wrong?"

Dimitri ignored my question and asked "Who are your parents child?"

Ever since Finitevus told me Lexie-Na was just an agent and never my mother I have been very uncomfortable answering that question. "I'm not sure who my real parents are but I did get a lead from Dr. Finitevus."

Dimitri cringed when I mentioned Dr. Finitevus's name. I felt sorry for him, I knew that Finitevus lied to him about his ambitions, and tricked him into helping turn Knuckles into Enerjak.

I looked down "He said my mother was the goddess Aurora."

I waited for Dimitri's answer but he didn't respond. I looked over and saw he was lost in thought.

"Dimitri?"

"Yes, that makes sense." said Dimitri "It would explain why your chaos energy looks different."

"You think he was telling the truth?"

"I would be suprised if he wasn't, Dr. Finitevus wouldn't lie about something like that."

I put my head in my hands and took a shaky breath. _So its true, why didn't Lexie-Na ever tell me about this?" _I felt something on my shoulder I looked up and saw it was one of Dimitri's mechanical dreadlocks.

Dimitri smiled "I know it may be a big change but I promise you everything is going to be alright."

I smiled "Thanks Dimitri."

Dimitri took his dreadlock off my shoulder "I think you should get going its late." I looked out of one of the windows and sure enough it was almost pitch black if not for the street lights.

"Come by tomorrow." said Dimitri "I might be able to teach you some things about chaos energy that might help."

When he said that I could help but cheer up alittle. "Thank you Dimitri I promise I wont let you down!" He smiled.

I got up and ran through the science center. I was suprised that I didn't get lost when I reached the door. As soon as I exited all the lights in the building went off, and I started to walk back to the hospital.

As I walked my pendent started to burn and a wave of dread washed over me. I suddenly heard a cold voice _You may have escaped, but next time you wont be so lucky._ I quickly jerked my head in all directions but no one was there. I started to panic and sprinted all the way back to the hospital and didn't stop until I reached the entrance.

A curious nurse noticed my sudden entrance and asked "Are you okay dear?" I ignored her question and quickly went back up to my room.

When I got there I closed and locked the door behind me. I knew what I heard was not my imagination I grabbed my pendent and felt that it was still warm. I released it and took a deep breath. I knew Dr. Finitevus was going to make another move and if I was going to stand any chance I had to be ready for him.


	11. Fun With Virtual Reality

Monstara Exscerabus Lus! Screamed Merlin Prower as green smoke started to fill the room. The smoke gathered into one area and made a flash of blinding green light. As fast as the light appeared it vanished. Leaving the room as it was before.

I got up and noticed I was covered in some sort of dust, I brushed it off and asked "Is his power gone?"

The brown fox got up and brushed off his cloak "Yes , you should be undetectable now."

I breathed a sigh of relief "I can't thank you enough Merlin, you just took a load off my mind. Are you going to be staying in Mobotropolis for a while?"

He frowned "I'm afraid I'm only going to be staying for the rest of the day. As a neowalker, I have much work that needs to be done."

We walked to the door "If you're so busy why did you help me?"

Merlin pointed to my pendent "Let's just say I owed your mother a favor."

Before I could say another word he winked and opened the door revealing a very eager Tails (The fox version)

"Uncle Merlin! Are you finally done?" he asked enthusiastically.

Merlin chuckled "Why yes I am! I just finished with Nicki here."

I waved sheepishly as Merlin gestured to me. I had met Tails only a few days ago when I visited Dimitri. It turns out Tails goes to the science center every once in a while to check up on Dimitri. I didn't know him to well yet but he made a very good impression.

Tails waved back and turned back to his uncle "Merlin so much has happened since you left, I want to tell you all of it!"

"How about you tell me over lunch, my treat." said Merlin. Tails smiled and walked off with his uncle. I felt happy that Tails had such caring relatives; I knew he deserved them but yet I felt a stir of emotion inside of me. It was envy; I guess deep down I wished It was me who was going off to lunch with my neowalker relative not Tails. I wondered why Merlin could come visit but not Aurora, was it by choice? I sighed I guess I would never know.

I felt a tap on my back and jolted around to see Nadi-La. "Nicki it's time to go!" I put my thoughts on hold and smiled warmly at her.

"It's that time of the day again, huh? Alright lets go."

We ran all the way down to the science center when we got there I held open the door open for Nadi-La "After you." Nadi-La chuckled and strolled inside where Dimitri was waiting for us.

A couple days ago I asked Dimitri if Nadi-La could look in on us and possibly learn something too, since she had taken a shine to my abilities. It Took a lot of persuading on my part, and a few promises on Nadi'la's part but by the end of the day Nadi-La was a part of our little club.

So then here we werenow, going to a secret training center built below the science center (Illegally of course) that not even the Council of Acorn knew about, curtsey of Nicole. We walked into the elevator and it slowly made its decent.

When the doors opened it revealed a basketball court sized training room with a few dents and burn marks on the metallic walls and floors that were all results of failed training exercises on my part.

I instinctively started a few basic chaos exercises that Dimitri had given me before. I started levitating various objects in the room while I watched Nadi-La struggle to pull out the stuffed sacks we used as dummies. I stifled a giggle as she was thrown back by pulling one too hard then losing her grip. One of these days I had to introduce her to the other Freedom Fighters, they would love her especially Kn-. The clay pot that I was levitating lazily around the room suddenly dropped and shattered. "Knuckles" I wispered

Dimitri, who was startled by the sudden shattering of the flower pot came over to me with a worried expression.

"Are you okay? he asked "You usually have an easy time lifting light objects, is everything alright?"

I sighed "I just don't know what to do about Knuckles." I said " I can tell he's getting suspicious about what happened at Finitevus's base. I want to tell him who I am, what I can do, and the truth about Nadi-La but I'm worried about what will happen."

Dimitri smiled whistfully "Knuckles has always been like that. I have a feeling he's going to find out sooner or later whether you tell him or not. My best advice to you would be to tell him yourself, he may be mad at first but he will learn to trust you quicker that way.

"I'm not just worried about telling him about my powers I'm also worried about telling him about Nadi-La.

"Ah, yes." said Dimitri " I think if he knows that Nadi-La is innocent and is never going back to Dr. Finitevus I don't think he'll have a problem with her."

As soon as he finished that sentence I heard a loud battle cry and spun around to see Nadi-La repeatedly stabbing her two pointed sai into a dummy's chest. I slowly turned back around to face Dimitri.

"Yea, she's real innocent." I said sarcastically.

Dimitri looked embarrassed and made a loud "Ahem" to get Nadi-La's attention "Okay I think that dummy's had enough for today, come over so I can tell you what we're going to do. Nadi-La smiled and ran over to join us.

"Have you ever heard of virtual reality." He asked. We both nodded "Good, then you should know that it's a realistic simulation of an environment made by a computer. What I'm going to do is send you to a reality for you where you can practice your chaos powers."

"How are you going to do that?" I asked "Don't you need some sort of pod or helmet?"

"Not necessarily." said Dimitri Nicole can alter this environment with her nanites so it will look and feel like you are fighting the real thing when you really are not."

The idea sounded great, I looked over for Nadi-La's approval. She looked a little worried but still seemed okay with it. "Okay sounds good just let us get our weapons and we'll get started."

"Us? I'm sorry Nicki but Nadi-La's coming to the control room with me."

"Really? I think Nadi-La could hold her own, you saw what she did to that dummy."

"Oh, I do not doubt her abilities." said Dimitri as he reluctantly looked back at the dummy. "I just want to see what you are capable of.

I narrowed my eyes he was hiding something from me. I knew there was another reason why Dimitri wanted me to do it alone, but I could tell this was something that no matter how much I bugged him he would never tell me. So, I decided to leave the matter alone for now.

"Okay Dimitri we'll do it your way." I said, my eyes still narrowed.

Dimitri looked relieved "Thank you, come along Nadi-La." And with that they left me alone in the training room.

I waited for what seemed like hours until the room started to distort. Everything started swirling around me in multiple colors. I had to cover my eyes to keep myself from getting sick. When I felt it was safe I peeked through my fingers.

My mouth dropped in surprise and my hands slowly fell from my face. I was in a green, lush forest. Everything seemed so real! The sun was hot and I could hear the leaves rustling in the wind. I closed my eyes to take it in. For a moment I felt like I was back on Earth enjoying that spring day before all of this started.

But I suddenly remembered where I was when I heard Dimitri's voice on an intercom **"****So Nicki what do you think?"**

I smiled and shouted "It's amazing Dimitri! I didn't expect it to seem this real!"

"**Good, I decided to start you off easy and put you in an environment that you had the advantage in."**

_An environment that I would have the advantage in, huh? _I looked around and figured that Dimitri was right. I practically grew up in the forest, and I was already accustomed to it, and with all the tress around I had low ground, high ground, and concealment.

"**Don't get too comfortable I already sent in your opponents, From here on out you're on your own. Good luck."**

I started to walk through until I heard a _crunch _come frombehind me. I quickly strung an arrow and turned around. But when I saw who my pursuer was I lowered my bow. It was just a normal rabbit.

"Hey buddy what are you doing in a place like this?" I asked as I started to walk over.

I was only a few feet away from it when it suddenly bolted. That was weird, a rabbit usually bolts when someone gets much close. Suddenly a huge shadow crept over me and I heard heavy breathing. _Oh great._

I jumped forward and narrowly avoiding a punch. I turned around and saw a giant brown ape barreling towards me. I jumped out of the way, and he smashed right through a tree that was behind me. I landed in a nearby tree and yelled "You ready for round two monkey boy?"

Simian didn't respond, as usual, and he ran up to my tree and started punching the trunk. The tree started shaking so violently that I had to hang on for dear life. He finally delivered a punch that sent the tree and me tumbling to the ground.

I jumped off my branch right before the tree landed with a "THUD". I strung an arrow and fired it at him. But Simian caught it and snapped it in two. "Dammit"

I was about to string another one but the quiver that contained my arrows was ripped off my back. I instinctively looked behind me and saw that Predator was holding my ruined quiver in his claws. I immediately threw a kick to his head but he caught it before it made contact. He looked smug, but I just smirked and blasted a chaos sphere in his face.

I was able to free my leg from his grip but not before a moist pink string caught me around the ankle. When the smoke cleared it wasn't a string it was Flying Frog's tongue. _Gross!_

Before I could free myself he hoisted me up in the air and slammed me back down on the ground. Pain spread all through my body, for a moment the only thing I could do was lay there. _Dimitri was right they may not be real, but the pain sure was._

I felt him hoist my body off the ground and start the process over again. _No way I'm letting this happen again._ In a split second I focused chaos energy into my leg and sent chaos energy down his tongue and into his head. I heard him wail and his grip on my ankle loosened enough for me to break free.

I still landed on the ground in a uncomfortable way, but it was better than being slammed into the ground by Flying's tongue. I didn't want to look over at Flying because I was afraid of what I might see. Chaos energy to the head was probably not the best thing for your brain cells. Not that Flying had any begin with but still.

I slowly got up minding my aching muscles until I felt my pendent burn. _Why would it be burning now? These Destrutix weren't the real ones._ I heard leaves crunching on the ground and saw all of the Destructix had assembled. _I guess Dimitri isn't taking it easy on me anymore_.

I made two glowing spheres, took a deep breath, and charged into battle. But before I could even throw a single sphere there was a loud bang and the ground shook like an earthquake. Then everything around me started to swirl again until I was back in the training room. It was pitch black until the emergency lights came pendent was still burning, and I knew this wasn't a part of the simulation.

Dimitri came bursting through the elevator doors and screamed "Nicki! Quick! In the elevator!" I did as he said and ran in while the doors slammed shut behind me.

"Wheres Nadi-La!" I urgently said

"Shes outside with the others, she should be safe."

There was another bang and tremor "Whats going on!" I screamed.

"You'll see when we get out!" With that the doors opened and I ran out dragging Dimitri behind me. I burst through the science center doors and ran a good distance outside until I finally stopped. At first everything seemed normal but suddenly something had blocked out the sun. I looked up at it and a wave of dread washed over me.

What I saw looked like a giant sinister metal egg with two glowing yellow eyes and a giant mustache. It was the Death Egg!

A note from the author

Hey guys hope you enjoyed the chapter. For those of you who don't go on my profile for updates, I'm just letting you know I have posted a prologue to Surviving Mobius that tells Lexie-Na's story and how her and Nicki ended up on earth. Check it out!


	12. Everyone vs The Death Egg

_Why me _I thought. _Why did it have to be the death egg? _Something fell from the bottom of the death egg and as soon as it made contact with the ground. Then, there was a huge explosion, bigger than any explosion I could ever hope to make with any of my chaos spheres.

Everyone was screaming and running in every direction, _you think they would have a evacuation procedure. _But if I listened harder, it turns out there was. Once I tuned out the screaming villagers, I was able to hear Nicole's voice giving them evacuation instructions, but apparently no one was listening to them.

I knew I was going to regret asking, but I grabbed a villager that was running past me by the shirt and hoisted him the air.

"HEY! PUT ME DOWN ARE YOU INSANE?"

"You're the one who's insane!" I said "Why aren't you listening to the evacuation procedure?"

"That's Nicole who's telling us to do that, she can't be trusted!"

I wanted to punch him in the face, but figured he wasn't worth it, so I threw him aside and sprinted toward the nearest exit. I felt a hard pull on my arm and I looked back to see Dimitri had wrapped one of his robotic dreadlocks around my arm.

"Let me go." I said impatiently

"No!" yelled Dimitri. "If you think I'm going to let you go off and fight against Robotnik you are sadly mistaken!"

I tried to pull away but I couldn't break out of his grip "They need my help!"

"The Freedom Fighters and Chaotix will do just fine without you, right now we need to-"

There was another tremor that knocked us both off balance, I felt Dimitri's grip loosen and I took the opportunity to rip my hand away from him and make a break for a crowd of screaming people. I Heard Dimitri holler after me but there was no way he would be able to find me with all of the Mobians running around.

I had to plow my way through hundreds of panicked Mobians before I could finally make it to the edge of the city. Nicole had the shields up at full force. So jumping over wasn't an option. I stood there and thought for a second until I came up with a idea. I placed both of my hands along the wall _"_I hope this works."

I focused chaos energy into the wall and willed it carve out an exit for me. I felt a flow of chaos energy leaving my body and forcing itself into the wall. It took for what seemed like hours until I finally stopped the flow of energy and collapsed on the ground. I was drenched in sweat and felt like I had just run a marathon. I looked up, and when my vision cleared I saw that I had thankfully made a hole in the wall just big enough for me to walk through.

I got up and was about to leave when I heard a voice behind me "Nicki!"

I sighed "Listen Dimitri, I'm going to help the freedom fighters and I'm not going to let you stop me."

But when I turned around it wasn't Dimitri, it was just my dog Tails and Nadi-La carrying a familiar bow and quiver. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"We heard you were going to help the Freedom Fighters." Said Nadi-La "I know whatever I say won't stop you from going out there, so I brought you something that you will need." She held out the bow and quiver. "These are the same bow and quiver I gave you back at my Fathers base.

"I wondered what happened to these." I said as I took them from her. I inspected the quiver and saw that it had four sections in it, and each section seemed to have a different type of arrow in it "These are weird looking arrows." I said.

Nadi-La smiled "Yes, those are the modified arrows I made for you." There was another loud explosion and a scream.

"I'm sorry Nadi-La but you'll have to save explanations for later!"

I started to rush out of the hole but Nadi-La grabed my arm and quickly said "The upper right section is regular arrows, use the upper left on machines, the lower right ones explode, and with the lower left ones you can-" I looked over and noticed the hole I made was starting to close.

"Sorry but I have to leave now!" I ripped my hand away from her and quickly leapt outside of the city right before the hole I made closed.

Everything was in chaos outside. The Chaotix were fending off waves of robots and dark legionnaires that kept on coming. While the freedom fighters were fighting a humanoid robot that Snively was controling. And the Death Egg dropping bombs every ten seconds wasn't helping either. Saying that I felt a little out of my league would understatement.

I suddenly felt a small nudge on my leg and quickly looked down to see that Tails had followed me out. "What are you doing here!" I screamed "You're gonna get killed out here!" He whimpered in response.

I sighed, there was nothing I could do about this now since there was no way back into Mobotropolis. "Stay!" I commanded, and ran off to go join the fight.

_So far so good. _Luckily no one had noticed me on the battlefield, yet but I knew it was only a matter of time before someone did_. _I felt my pendent heat up, I immediately stopped and looked around me. _That's weird my pendent only heats up when I'm in danger…. unless. _I looked over at the Chaotix and sure enough Vector was being overwhelmed in the front while another robot was about to shoot him in the back.

"Vector!" I screamed

He looked over at me and a confused expression went across his face "Kid what are you-"

I remembered what Nadi-La had said "_use the upper left arrows on machines." _I Grabbed an arrow from the upper left section of my quiver and strung it. It looked like a regular arrow, but the tip looked like a sharp black computer chip.

Before that robot knew what hit it I fired the arrow straight into its eye. At first nothing happened, but the robot suddenly erupted into a shower of sparks. Vector noticed what was going on and hit the deck right before the robot exploded.

Smoke filled that area, and all I could make out were the sounds crashing and grunts. When the smoke cleared I saw that Vector still standing with a pile of wrecked robots at his feet. He looked back at me "Thanks for the save kid but what are you doing out here?"

I smiled "Saving your butt."

Vector smirked "Cute, but I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into."

"Trust me I don't, but what I do know is that you guys helped me out, so now it's time for me to return the favor."

Vectors smirk turned into a smile "Okay kid if you insist, stick close to me." I nodded my head, and we ran off to help out the rest of the Chaotix.

Vector and I tore through everything in sight, Vector was taking out tons legionnaires at a time, while I never missed a single shot with my arrows. For a moment I felt like nothing could stop me until I reached back and felt that I was out of the computer chip and exploding arrows.

I growled, I knew that regular arrows wouldn't work on robots so what was I going to do now? I remembered that I had one more section of arrows that might work, so moved my hand to the lower left section and touched a cold surface.

I grabbed it and pulled it out of my quiver. It looked like a normal arrow, but it was made out of what looked like silver. Needless to say it was pretty heavy for an arrow.

I strung it and fired, but it didn't go any more than a few feet. I ran over and picked it up. _What does Nadi-La expect me to do with this? _I thought for a second and came up with an idea.

I looked one way, and saw that Vector had already taken care of the robot that I was aiming for, and already moved on to the next one. I looked the other way and the Chaotix were preoccupied with a wave of dark legionnaires.

I grabbed the arrow with both hands and let some chaos energy flow through it. The arrow was suddenly engulfed in a white flame. I took a moment to admire the beautiful white flame until I finally strung it and aimed at a robot. I was about to fire it until something told me I needed to use this on something bigger. I lowered my bow and looked for a bigger target until my gaze finally stopped on Snively's robot.

It was about a hundred yards away, but I figured I could make the shot. I brought my bow up into firing position pulled the arrow back to my cheek and released it.

The arrow traveled just as fast as one of my chaos spheres leaving a white trail of light behind it. When it made contact with Snively's robot the whole thing blew to smithereens. The only one who seemed more surprised than I was were the Freedom Fighters.

At first I thought Snively blew up with his robot, but I was relieved and not relieved when I heard his voice. I looked up, and there he was floating right over what used to be his robot in his Egg-O-Matic.

"WHO DID THAT!" he screamed. He looked over at me and pointed "YOU!"

_Nooo! The girl with the bow and quiver on her back, fired the arrow? Impossible!_

There was sudden scraping of metal, and I looked up to see something being deployed from the Death Egg. At first I thought it was just another bomb until I felt a yank on my arm. I jerked my head to see that Mighty was slowly pulling me behind him. "Get behind me and get down." he said. His expression was deadly serious, so I got behind him and crouched down.

As the deployed object came closer I could see that it wasn't a bomb, but anther Egg-O-Matic. I sighed I guess Dr. Eggman came to join the fight. As the machines glass window opened up saw Dr. Fatass himself.

He looked over everyone and said eight words in a deadly calm voice "Which one of you has my chaos emerald."


	13. False Accusation

"What are you talking about!" yelled Sonic "We don't have your stupid Chaos Emerald!"

"LIAR!" screamed Eggman.

I flinched at his sudden outburst and took a few steps back just to be safe _I guess this guy has a pretty short fuse. _

"Do you take me for a fool?"

Sonic crossed his arms and smirked "You really don't want me to answer that."

Eggman growled and looked like he wanted to shot sonic on the spot, but instead his face shifted to a sinister smile that was somehow worse than How he was before. "You're not fooling me, there was a chaos emerald detected by one of my machines. I know one of you has it and suggest you hand it over, and maybe I'll let you go.

Antoine unsheathed his saber and pointed it up at Eggman "Even if we had ze Chaos Emerald, we would never give eet to ze likes of you!"

I smiled at Antoine and stood up with newfound determination. If the freedom fighters beat Eggman before they can beat him again, with or without me.

Eggman growled "Fine! If none of you will openly give it to me, I'll find out who's hiding it and tear them to shreds!.. ORBOT!"

I heard some clicking and the sound of gears moving, and suddenly a black and red orb popped out from under a hidden panel and opened up to reveal a small robot. "You called boss?"

Eggman smirked "Yes, I did. Use the emerald detector to find out which one of the rodents has the emerald."

"Sure thing boss." said Orbot as he saluted to eggman. I cringed _that poor robot._

He dove back into the compartment, where he came from, and fumbled around until he came out with a thin blue pad that was just as big as he was. "Okay now let's see…." He pressed a few buttons and there was a loud beep signifying that it was just activated.

Tension seemed to build up all around me, the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix were all getting ready for a fight. Antoine's grip on his sabre tightened Amy brought out her hammer, Julie-Su grabbed her gun, and my pendent started to sear. I grabbed it and knew without a doubt that something terrible was about to happen. I just didn't know what.

"Over there sir, that's the one who's hiding it!"

I finally understood why my pendent was burning. It was trying to warn me, because the one he was pointing at was me.

Everyone was staring including Eggman and Snively. I backed up a few steps and put my head down, I felt like a deer caught in a spotlight, but I just wished the car would run me over already. Not only could that emerald detector find Chaos Emeralds it could also detect my chaos powers, and as far as Eggman knew I was hiding a one from him.

I knew I was going to regret it but I looked up at Eggman. He looked surprised but his expression was soon replaced by an evil grin. "Well well well, who might you be? I've never seen you around here before?" I remained silent and backed up a few steps not once breaking eye contact with him.

Eggmans smile disappeared and I couldn't help but wonder if that was good thing or a bad thing. "….Well it's too bad you have my chaos emerald." said Eggman casually "Dark legionnaires... FIRE!" _definitely a bad thing!_

Before the first shot was fired Mighty scooped me up bridal style and made a break for it while Espio threw a smoke bomb that pretty much brought visibility down to zero.

"Don't loose sight of them!" screamed Eggman "Get that emerald back no matter w-"

I don't know how he was cut off at the end, but I guessed someone threw a Dark Legionnaire into his Egg-O-Matic. I chuckled and made a quick mental note to send whoever did that flowers.

I had my attention back to the armadillo who was carrying me to, who knows where. By the look on his face I could tell I had some explaining to do, but before I could say anything Mighty yelled "You had a Chaos Emerald all this time and you didn't tell us!"

I hesitated not knowing what to tell him. I took a deep breath and finally said "Well, yes and no. I have a chaos emerald but it's not with me."

"So you have one but it's not here!"

"Pretty much."

"Then why did the Emerald Detector still trace the signal back to you?"

I was going to answer until I noticed a stray missile coming toward us at full speed "LOOK OUT!" I screamed. Mighty jerked is head over and ducked just as it was about one foot away from us. I felt it sail over our heads, and watched it as it speed away and hit the ground making an ear-shattering, fiery blast. I let out a sigh of relief _that was too close for comfort._

Mighty readjusted his grip on me and kept on moving, like a missile didn't just almost take our heads off.

He ran through the smoke screen for what seemed like hours, until we finally made it out to see New Mobotropolis was just a few yards away. I heard mighty give a triumphant laugh as he started to jog toward the city.

It looked like we were home free, even I thought we were going to make it. But yet again, I was proven wrong when a bomb came out of nowhere and blew up no more than five feet in front of us.

The sheer force of the shockwave sent both me and Mighty flying backwards, followed by a cloud of dust. I felt Mighty's grip on me loosen and let go all together, leaving just me hurtling towards the solid ground below.

The impact was hard, when I hit the ground every ounce of air left my body and pain spread like a disease. I struggled to my hands and knees trying to regain my breath.

I don't know how long I was there, but it was long enough for the dust cloud to clear and for Snively to hover just a few feet away from me and watch me with an amused expression on his face.I looked up and snarled, he was the one who released the bomb.

I quickly scanned the area but there was no sign of Mighty, he must have been blown somewhere else. I hoped he was alwright but right now I was alone with Snively, while everyone else was in the cloud of smoke fighting off Eggman and the dark Legionnaires, unaware of my current situation.

I started to get up as fast as my aching joints would let me. I knew if Snively wanted to kill me he would have done it by now, so chances were he wanted something. I looked back up at him. He still had the same cruel expression. "Enjoying yourself?" I spat.

Snively nasally laughed "Well you almost kill me I almost kill you. Fairs fair."

"That's not fair! You got Mighty too!"

Snively narrowed his eyes "He's done more things to me than you can count. But that's not important, my point is I came here to make a deal.

"A deal?" I said suspiciously.

"Yes, you see it may look like I'm on Robotnick's side but truth be told I hate him just as much as you do. You see I-"

"Get to the point!" I yelled. Noticing that the smoke screen was starting to die down.

Snively looked over at the fading smoke and his eyes widened. If Eggman caught him talking to me, and not blasting me to pieces we'll both be in trouble I hoped he was smart enough to figure that out.

Lucky for me he was "Fine! I want your Chaos Emerald, If you give it to me I might be able to convince my uncle that there was a malfunction in the emerald detector."

"And If I don't?" I said in a cautious voice.

Snively smirked "Than what's stopping me from blasting you into oblivion?"

I involuntarily jumped back. That was just an Egg-O-Matic it couldn't have any weapons, could it? No… judging by the look on Snivelys face and the size of the machine he wasn't bluffing. If I didn't give him what he wanted he was literally gonna kill me! The problem was I don't have a Chaos emerald.

I could hear my heartbeat in my ears and a bead of sweat trickled down my face. What was I supposed to say? _"Sorry Snively but I don't have your chaos emerald, but I do however have chaos powers. Would you like to take me prisoner, put me into the Egg Grapes and turn me into fuel?" _I shivered at the thought.

Already, thirty seconds had passed and I still haven't given him my answer. I knew that if I didn't give him my answer soon he would just shoot me anyway. A million thoughts when through my head at once most of which were escape plans.

Finally something clicked, if I was gonna get out of this alive, I would have to beat Snively at his own game. It was risky plan, but I had to try it.

I tightened my grip on my bow and casually brought my hands up to my head making it look like I was just fixing my hair, luckily Snively seemed to put little notice to this.

I kept a serious expression and calmly said "Sorry Snively, but I don't have any Chaos Emeralds." I slowly pushed my hands toward the back of my head.

Snivelys face tightened in frustration "You are in no position to be lying to me." he hissed "Maybe I should remind you of what's at stake here." He pressed a blue button on the control board, and just as I predicted two blasters came out of either side of his machine.

A wicked smirk appeared on Snivelys face "Now you have to the count of three to hand over the emerald."

"One."

I moved my hands further back and finally felt the reassuring soft leather fabric of my quiver.

"Two."

I wrapped my fingers around one of the normal arrows.

"Three!" He brought his hand up as far as it wound go and threw it back down at the button. Before he could even get to the halfway point I whipped out my arrow, strung it and pulled it back to my cheek.

"Don't you dare press that button!" I screamed. Snively whipped his head in my direction and his eyes widened, and suddenly stopped his hand's decent with it hovering just a few inches above the button.

His eyes were a combination of shock and malice. But I didn't care though, I just remained focused on my target and calmly said "If you make the slightest move… I'll fire this arrow into your heart."


	14. I Am A Freedom Fighter

Snively and I just stood there, his hand hovering inches above the fire button and mine ready to release the arrow the second he moved. I don't know how long we stood like this but suddenly Snively threw his head back and started laughing uncontrollably.

A small spark of rage lit inside of me. Did he not care that both of us could die? Or didn't he think I could hit him? Either way made me want to shoot at him more. I widened My stance and pulled my arrow back further and waited for him to finish.

A few moments later Snively's laugh faded and finally stopped. He brought his head back to normal position and wiped a tear from his cheek and looked back at me with a crazed smile on his face. "Real cute little girl, you had me going there for a second." I felt the small spark of rage inside me build into a steady flame.

"It's too bad for you that I figured out what kind of hero you are!" He gave me a smug smile "You're like Sonic! You feel like you can do or say anything even when it comes to threatening to take someone's life. But I know when the time comes like Sonic or any other Freedom Fighter you will not shoot that arrow… am I correct?"

For the first time I took my eyes off his hand and looked directly into his icy blue eyes. They were cold and had no shine to them, but they had this certainty and confidence to them, like he was absolutely sure I wouldn't be able to do it.

My eyes widened and I squeezed my bow, was he right? Would I be able to take his life if he did press that button? I've been able to kill squirrels, deer, and even fish with my arrows, but would I be able to take another human life? A bead of sweat trickled down the side of my face, and my bow shook in my hand.

I looked back up at Snively, he had a smug look on his face, I looked back down at his hand and saw that he had moved it so it was resting right on top of the button. My eyes widened and I tried to release my arrow but my whole body felt like it was filled with cement. I couldn't move, and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. I couldn't do it, I wasn't a killer, but if I couldn't kill Snively I knew he would not hesitate to kill me.

Suddenly a cool gust of wind started blowing, I knew was making a dangerous decision but I needed this, so I closed my eyes and breathed it in. The cool air didn't seem to stop at my lungs in fact it felt like it was traveling throughout my body undoing all of my stiff muscles, steading my breathing, and clearing my mind. It felt like I had just spent a whole day at the spa. I was about breath in another one, until a very familiar female voice spoke in my mind. _If you are not a murderer then who are you?_

_What am I? _For a moment I couldn't think of anything but suddenly images flew by my eyes. I saw me hitting Scouge through a tree, me defending Nadi- La back at Fnitevus's base, me training with Dimitri, and Vector and I beating up robots together.

When all the images past the answer was finally clear to me. The gust of wind stopped and I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at Snively. Thankfully he didn't press the button while I was out. I knew that he would sooner want me to beg for mercy then blast me than just blasting me.

I felt like an idiot that whole time I was just playing into Snivelys hands. He wanted me to get mad he wanted me to think about what I was about to do. Well if he was going to play this game with me, we were going to do it my way.

I lowered my bow and gently unstrung my arrow and calmly said "Your right Snively I'm not a murderer like you are."

A wild smile appeared on Snively's face "HA! I knew it! You heroes are powerless! You couldn't kill to save even your own lives!" Snively went on another fit of laughter "Do you have any last words before I blast you?"

I smirked "Yea I do, If we heroes are so 'powerless' how do we beat sorry butts back to Robotropolis on a regular basis?"

Snively stopped mid laugh and snapped his attention back to me "We have had many victories and we are winning this war!" he said through clenched teeth.

"Winning this war?" I laughed "If your winning why aren't the freedom fighters dead, why is there so many people putting their lives on the line to stop you, and if your winning why is there a huge city full of Mobians right behind you?" I said while motioning to the city. "If anything your loosing this war!"

"SHUT UP!" screamed Snively shaking with rage. He brought his hand up and slammed it down on the fire button. I jumped in the air and dodged the guns blasts right t before they could hit me.

Snively looked up at me with a stunned expression "And, I'm not a murderer like you!" I yelled. I grabbed a silver arrow out of my quiver, infused it with my chaos energy and fired it at Snivelys machine. The last thing I heard was his high pitched scream as the arrow made contact and blew his machine to bits.

I rode the shock wave and landed on both of my feet only a few yards away. I slowly got up and calmly said "I'm a Freedom Fighter."

I turned around and inspected the damage, there was machine parts scattered all around me and the grass was charred where the Egg-O-Matic once had been floating. The Egg-O-Matic itself was nothing more than a upside down metal shell. I walked closer and peeked inside, nothing was out of the ordinary for a combusted machine, a few of the controls were sparking and wires hung randomly off of the walls but I couldn't find Snively anywhere. _Where is that pipsqueak? I hope I didn't actually kill him._

"NICKI!"

I jerked my head in the direction of the voice and saw Knuckles running full speed toward me. He looked beat up and had a cut under his eye that I didn't see there before. I felt some relief build inside me, if anything else were to come up I knew I could count on Knuckles to help me fight it off.

Once Knuckles got closer I noticed that his face was urgent. "GET OUT OF THERE NICKI!" he screamed. I heard humming above me and looked up to see Eggman himself with a floating badnick holding Snively. Before I could say anything the badnick fired one of its guns at me.

I just stood there as everything seemed to go in slow motion. I heard the sound of the bullet being fired and the spark coming from the gun and awaited the pain that came with it. But instead I heard a loud whimper, and a thud like someone or somthing just hit the ground.

I suddenly snapped out of my trance when Knuckles tackled as another shot sailed over my head. I heard him yell something at Eggman and go head on with his machine. I slowly looked over my shoulder and my eyes widened at what I saw.

_No No NO!_ Suddenly that small flame of rage I had contained all this time, turned into a uncontrollable wildfire that seeped into my very bones. Tears fell from my eyes as I ran over to the limp body of my dog Tails.


	15. The Stranger

I hesitantly knelt down beside him and started running my fingers through his tangled fur. His glassy brown eyes looked up at me and he started softly whimpering through quick breaths. Almost like I could understand what he was saying I wiped away a tear and said "No, I'm not leaving you here, I owe you too much."

In the background I heard explosions and grunts as Dr. Eggman and Knuckles duked it out but I didn't care Tails had been my partner for as long as I could remember. He grew up with me, he hunted with me, he's risked his own life to save me more than once, and now here he was laying on the cool grass dying right in front of my eyes.

I buried my face in my hands and sobbed, _Why did this have to happen to him? Why did he have to jump in front of that bullet? It should be me laying there!_

I removed my hands from my eyes which were burning with the salt of my tears. I looked over him and noticed the area where the shot had hit him was gushing blood. I took off my vest and brought it to the wound in a useless attempt to stop the blood flow. I knew it wouldn't help much but I just couldn't sit around and do nothing.

I was so busy with Tails that I didn't notice the Freedom Fighters and the rest of the Chaotix had joined the fight with Knuckles. They were all fighting hard but they seemed to be worn down, everyone's attacks weren't doing as much damage as they should have, and they were wearing down fast.

Even though they were worn down they still fought valiantly. Sonic was breathing heavily but dug deep and spindashed Eggman's machine landing looking worse than when he did before. Antoine's sabre was cracked and shattered to tiny glistening pieces, when he slashed at a badnik with heavy armor. Even though Mighty was injured he was still fighting hard. Amy looked like she was ready to pass out but still delivered a blow to a legionnaire.

I smiled for a moment but it quickly faded when I realized that even though they fought bravely they couldn't keep this up forever. Eggmans forces kept on coming and I knew it was only a matter of time before they would overwhelm the Freedom Fighters.

My heart started to pound and my hands shook, I knew what I had to do. I reluctantly dropped my bow to the ground where it landed with a soft thud. It wouldn't help me now especially since I used my last silver arrows on Snively's machine, and the worst my normal arrows could do on Eggman's machine was leave a few dents. But that didn't matter I didn't plan on using it anyway.

Dimitris warning about not using my powers around the wrong people, rung in my head. I closed my eyes and steadily pushed that warning to the side. I had to do this not just for the Freedom Fighters but for my dog Tails. He sacrificed himself for me and I wasn't going to let him go unavenged. With that though, I rose my hands in the air like knuckles would do when chanting to the master emerald, and felt the welcoming prickles of heat in my palms.

I knew a sphere of chaos energy would do some damage but it wouldn't destroy his machine completely it would also get Eggman's attention on me, and I did not need that at the moment. I slowly closed my eyes and willed for the warmth in my palms to get bigger.

At first nothing happened and I was about to give up until the ground started shaking below me and I heard a terrified scream. I felt a painful tug in my stomach and winced but managed to open my eyes. My vision was fuzzy so what I saw one big white smudge chasing a smaller grey flying smudge.

I shook my head and narrowed my eyes until my vision cleared up enough to see that the grey smudge was Eggman in his machine while the white smudge was white crystal-like spikes quickly emerging from the ground chasing Eggman.

I let out a small chuckle in triumph but regretted it when my stomach gave another painful tug. I felt my energy leaving me fast like sand in an hour glass. I wouldn't be able to keep this up forever, so I willed the spikes to get bigger. Finally one particularly long spike impaled his machine which suddenly exploded sending Eggman flying to the ground where he landed with a loud satisfying thud.

My arms dropped back down to my sides and I grinned triumphantly I took a step forward and suddenly something inside me snapped. Every bone in my body seemed to buckle and I fell to the ground.

_Damn it I used too much chaos energy! _My eyes forced themselves shut and, the last things I was able to distinguish were the yells of the freedom fighters and something soft cover my body until I finally blacked out…..

* * *

><p>My eyes flickered open and I saw that I was laying down in a soft bed in a dimly lit room. I tilted my head and saw a work bench full of medical equipment so I guessed I was back in the hospital. <em>Great…<em>

I don't know how long I laid there staring at the ceiling but I suddenly felt something cold stroke the top of my hand. I quickly pulled my hand away and bolted upright to see Dimitri at the side of my bed.

His eyes were narrowed and he had a mixture of pity and disappointment on his face. With that expression in the dim light it made him look kind of sinister. I looked down and gathered chunks of the blanket in my fists. I knew I would have to face Dimitri sooner or later, I disobeyed his orders to remain in the city and also used my chaos powers in front of Eggman. I wasn't exactly student of the year right now. "Hey Dimitri, how long have you been here?" I asked without looking up.

"Do you know what you could have done?" said Dimitri sternly.

_I guess we're skipping to the part where he yells at me. _I sighed and tried my best to keep a steady voice"Dimitri they needed me."

"Needed you? The Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix have fought Eggman more times than you know, they could have handled this without you!"

"I just couldn't stand by and watch if I knew had the power to beat Eggman!"

"Oh you beat Eggman all right, and now his whole empire knows what you can do! You even went over your limit in the process! If you would have kept summoning chaos energy like that you could have been seriously injured or worse, and not to mention your dog lost his life in the process!"

My eyes widened and my next words stuck in my throat. "Tails... is…. dead?" I asked softly.

Dimitri's eyes widened and he snapped his head down and bit his metallic lip. He slowly looked back up to me and his serious expression melted into one of pity. He began stroking my hand again as if it would help what he was about to say to me. "I'm sorry Nicki, Dr. Quack did all he could" He paused and looked down at my hand like it was the most interesting thing in the world at this moment. "At least it wasn't you who got hit…."

"Wasn't… me…" I repeated "My grip around the sheets tightened until my knuckles turned white, and fresh salty tears ran down either side of my face. "So his life doesn't matter to you does it?" I said failing to control the severity of my voice.

Dimitri looked up at me in shock "N-no what I'm saying is that-"

I held my hand up for science and stared daggers at him "I know what you meant."

"Nicki I'm not saying that Tails's life is not- What are you doing!"

I had gotten out of bed, pulled off any medical device they had on me, and was making my way over to the window. I unlatched the lock and threw open the shutters making a blast of cool fresh nighttime air come into the room and I breathed it in. It was not like the one that I had breathed in while I was outside of New Mobotropolis but it was refreshing all the same. I smiled and proceeded to climb onto the window pane and hung my legs over the edge I was about two stories up, but lucky for me this wasn't the craziest thing I've done in Mobius.

"Nicki!" Dimitri hissed "Don't even think about it!" He reached out a dreadlock in a attempt to stop me but it was too late, I had already slid off the edge of the window pane and was plunging toward the ground before he could stop me.

Cool air rushed by my ears until I finally landed on the ground with both feet and rolled to absorb some of the impact. I quickly got up and ran into the forest, going who knows where.

* * *

><p>I was sitting in front of the lake of rings with my arms wrapped around my legs and squeezing them to my chest watching the chao play among themselves. Occasionally they would give me curious glances and a few even came over to try and comfort me. They would offer me berries or lay small flower arrangements at my feet. It was enough to get me to stop crying but never the less I was still very upset.<p>

It puzzled me that the chao could be this kind and knew emotions this well. I picked up one of the flowers they left me and fingered the delicate petals, I smiled alittle and looked back to the chao. They had given up on trying to make me feel better and went back to playing.

The crescent moons light reflected in the crystal clear water giving everything around it a silvery tint giving the chao garden a mystical effect.

It was so beautiful there that I almost didn't notice that all the chao had stopped what they were doing and were gaping at something behind me. I noticed and followed their small gazes until I laid eyes on what they were staring at.

My pendent started to glow when I first saw this figure. It looked like a dark legionnaire but the black cloak was more well-kept and had thick silver lining at the ends of it. There was also a peach muzzle that you could see under the hood but the rest of its face was completely hidden. It was also carrying a picnic basket, and On either side of the figure were two chao. But these chao were different than the ones behind me, they were both red and looked kind of sinister in a way.

I just stood there not knowing what to say until it finally spoke in a female voice "Excuse me, might it be okay if I share this lake with you?"

I tried to say something but everything I tried to say stuck in my throat. I quickly gulped them down and gave a shaky nod.

The figure smiled and made its way over and sat down beside me with the chao following. She set the picnic basket down looked up at me and patted the ground next to her. I hadn't noticed that I was standing up, so I quickly sat down next to her. She reached into her picnic basket and pulled out a wooden box "Here eat, you look like you have eaten anything in a while." I was about to turn her down until my stomach suddenly growled, I didn't remember being this hungry before I apparently I was.

I blushed and hesitantly took the wooden box and opened it to see my two favorite foods, fried rice and chocolate covered strawberries. I looked at the contentents dumbfounded "How did you-"

"I didn't poison that you know? Go ahead and eat." My stomach rumbled again and I picked up a strawberry and took a bite. I was the best chocolate covered strawberry I had ever eaten! The strawberry was perfectly ripe and the chocolate was the best I had ever tasted!

"What seems to ail you my child?" asked the hooded figure before I could take another bite.

Suddenly a wave of greif washed over me crushing the happiness I just obtained. I put the box down and brought my legs back up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them "It's my dog." I said emotionlessly "He was struck down by one of Dr. Eggman's robots trying to defend me…"

The figure looked down at her food box and back to me "That was a noble thing he did."

"Yea it was." I said while feeling fresh tears well up in my eyes. "I wish he could come back not only that I also wish people could see him like I did…"

"If you could have anything in the world right now… would it be that?" asked the stranger curiously.

A single tear fell down the side of my cheek "Yes... it would."

The figure sighed "Then so be it.." She stood up and smiled at me "I hope we meet again Nicki, until then farwell. Before I could ask her how she knew my name she erupted into an intense white light that was so powerful I needed to cover my eyes and look away.

As quickly as that light came it vanished leaving me alone one again in the chao garden. I quickly looked around everything the stranger came with was gone! The picnic basket, the two red chao, the food boxes (Which I was the most disappointed about), and the figure herself, almost like she was never here to begin with. I sat there with millions of questions buzzing through my mind at once. _Who was that? How did she know my favorite foods? And How did she know my name!_

I sat there for who knows how long asking myself these questions until I heard a voice behind me call my name. I looked in the direction of the voice hopefully to see if the stranger had returned to answer my questions but it was only Sonic.

He ran up to me and urgently said "Nicki I need you to come with me it's an emergency!"

I quickly got up "What is it?"

Sonic bit his lip and looked up at the sky "You're gonna have to see it to believe it." Said Sonic nervously. Before I could give him an answer He picked me up bridal style and raced back to the hospital where Nadi-La was waiting at the entrance. When she saw Sonic and I race up her eyes widened and she ran up and hugged me.

Before I could ask her any questions she grabbed my hand and started dragging me through the hospital and started talking so fast I could only make out a few words she was saying. I heard things like "I can't believe it" or "Should be impossible." Or most commonly "Oh sweet Aurora!"

I kept on nodding and going along with her chatter until she shoved me inside a random hospital room. Inside the room was Dr. Quack fussing over a mobian I have never seen before. He was a furry black dog with perked up ears that bent at the tips.

Dr. Quack slowly stepped back and gaped at the figure in awe "I-it's all the same." Squeaked "Vitals, blood type, everything…. the same…"

The Mobian sighed "I told you when you first came in I'm…" His gaze drifted from Dr. Quack to me, his eyes were deep brown. And one they connected with my blue eyes something seemed to spark. I felt my heart start to beat faster and faster in my chest "No… It couldn't be!"

The Mobian gave me a dazzling white smile "Hey Nicki…. It's me…. Tails…"


	16. Starting Over

**Hey guys before you read this I would like to tell you about another one of my stories called 'The Coming Storm'. I can't say too much about it but it's linked to Surviving Mobius. Thanks for reading and enjoy chapter 16!**

Tails watched me intently with his deep brown eyes locked with mine.

I stood there looking at him in awe. I thought he was dead and yet here he was sitting right in front of me… as a Mobian. You would think we would have a touching reunion right about now, you know the kind you would see in movies. But no, being the sane mindful person I am, I doubled over and started laughing.

Through the past two months I've been kidnapped by the Destructix, told my life was a whole lie, almost brain-washed by Dr. Finitevus, meet a robotic head in a bubble, and practically killed by Dr. Eggman and his stupid nephew. But apparently my dog becoming a Mobian is the thing that finally made me snap.

Tails's smile vanished and he swung his feet over the side of the bed and leaned in and whispered something to Dr. Quack. Of course I couldn't hear what they were saying because I was too busy with my mental breakdown. It was probably something like "Get the straight jacket." Or "Call a nurse…"

When Tails was done speaking he nodded at Dr. Quack who quickly nodded back and stalked out of the room. I didn't blame him, right about now I would have probably scared off the whole city of New Mobotropolis if they saw me. Tails got up from the bed and took slow cautious steps towards me, I couldn't tell if he was trying not to startle me or he just didn't know how to walk properly yet.

He knelt down beside me and took my hand "You okay Nicki?" His voice was soft and smooth like silk. I sat upright and my laughter slowly faded away to nothing. I didn't look up at him but I slowly nodded my head showing him that I had some sanity left in me. He smiled and guided me over to a table on the other side of the room. I sat down in the cold metal chair and for the first time since I had my little mental breakdown I looked up at him.

He was looking all around the room almost like he didn't want to forget a single detail. After a few moments of silence he picked up a plastic cup and waved it in front of his face "I'm sorry I may have scared you..."

I looked down and blushed embarrassed by my little scene "N-no I've been through a lot and… How did you end up like this?"

His smile faded and he set his cup down "I honestly don't know. I was in a really bright place but I felt something push me and a burning sensation all throughout my body and I suddenly woke up in this hospital room like this." he said as he held out his hand in front of him.

I sighed "Well I guess it's not the weirdest thing that's happened since I got here." I looked up and smiled at him "I'm just glad you're okay Tails."

Tails suddenly sniffed the air and smiled "I think we have a visitor…"

I looked to the door instinctively and saw a small pink head peeking out from behind it. When Nadi-la realized her cover was blown she blushed furiously and walked in the room her eyes wider than usual. "H-hello." she said nervously.

I chuckled "Don't worry it's just Tails and I, you don't need to-" I stopped mid-sentence and looked back to Tails." Sure he was alive and healthy again that didn't look like Tails. That may have been the dog I grew up with, but to me the real Tails was still dead and I was just calling this Mobian by his name.

All at once everything seemed to pile on me, getting kidnapped by the Destructix, almost getting brain washed by Dr. Finitevus, and now this? It was a lot for a girl to handle, I may have chaos powers but deep down I was still human and no matter what I would never be able to change that.

I took one last look at the Stanger sitting in front of me and got up from my chair and started to walk towards the door. Tails's ears perked up and a worried look spread on his face when he saw me leaving. "Nicki where are you going?"

I put my hand on the door knob and reluctantly looked back up at him "Listen, I need some time alone for now. Everything is just happening so fast I just… need some time to catch up." Tails looked like he wanted to say something but before it could leave his lips Nadi-La cut in.

"Go ahead Nicki" said Nadi-La as she gave Tails a look "I'll keep Tails company while you're gone." I smiled at her gratefully Nadi-La was always there to help me when I needed it.

I quickly exited the room my limbs weighed down by guilt. I know Tails didn't deserve this but I needed time alone right now more than anything.

As I walked down the hallway I looked back and hoped that I would never have another reason to end up in this place. I turned back and chuckled _like that'll ever happen…_

* * *

><p>Walking around Mobotropolis was the best thing that happened to me in weeks. Other than the different species of Mobians surrounding me it felt just like the local market back home. It was early morning so naturally the place was crowded.<p>

People were walking in and out of stores, on early morning jogs, and buying things from stands that lined the streets.

As I walked on I could see that they sold thing like roasted nuts, ice cream, toys… In a way it reminded me of a carnival, just without rigged games and crappy rides.

One particular building caught my eye as I passed it, It was a small brown building that had a spinning red white and blue stripped pole right in front of the white door, and right above that was a sign that said _'Best Cuts Of Mobius_' in pink cursive letters.

"Excuse me miss?"

I looked down and saw a young black cat looking up at me. "We're having a sale today, would you like a cut? Or a wash and style maybe?"

Usually I would just shrug off these kinds of people and keep walking, but Instead I twirled a piece of my elbow length brown hair around my finger. "A cut? Sure why not?"

The black cat smiled and guided me into the store. She sat me down in a chair and said "I'll get Martha it will only be a minute..." and with that she rushed off and left me alone sitting in front of a wall sized mirror.

I looked at my refection and sighed, I looked like Nicki but not the Nicki I felt like right now. The Nicki I was looking at looked like the girl from earth that got teased for reading comics, and would be one of the first to run to a bunker when Eggman attacked.

I wasn't that Nicki anymore… I was different from when I first came here and It was time for a change…

Suddenly a door creaked open on the other side of the room and out walked a brown middle aged hedgehog with wavy blonde hair. I stood up and asked "Uh, hi. Are you the hair stylist?"

The brown hedgehog chuckled "I don't see anyone else around here." I blushed realizing that was a stupid question, she was about seven feet away from me and had a name tag on that said '_Hello my names Martha_ 'in big bulgy letters that even a blind person could read.

I was honestly surprised that she was the hair stylist though. Back on Earth almost all the hair stylists, or at least the ones I had wore boatloads of makeup and had their hair dyed every color you can think of. You could even smell them a mile away from all the perfume they wore.

Martha was different, she had on light makeup, I could tell her hair was naturally blonde, and she smelled like vanilla candles. Martha smiled and took my hand. She led me back to the seat I was sitting in and walked up beside me "So how do you want it done dear?

I picked up a piece of my hair and let it fall back down to my side "Just do whatever you think is best." She looked at me like I was joking at first but once she realized I was serious a big smile appeared on her face. She tilted my head and looked at it at every angel.

"I think I know just what you need, trust me I'll make you beautiful!

"Sure.."

She rinsed and shampooed my hair and went straight to work. With every snip of her scissors I saw inches of my hair fall to the floor. I closed my eyes and reminded myself _remember change is good. _I kept my eyes closed and enjoyed the feeling of my head getting lighter with every snip. She inspected my head once more and started to blow dry it. Once she was done she dipped my bangs in a cool liquid and gasped. I opened one eye and asked "Is everything okay?"

She didn't answer for a moment but when she did she said "Uh.. yes, everything's fine." With that reassuring answer I closed that eye once again and enjoyed the rest of the cut.

A couple minutes later she told me to open my eyes, once I did I looked at my reflection amazed. She told me my hair was now right above my shoulders and she put layers in. The ends kind of spiked out to the side and my bangs were swept to the side like they have been blown by the wind.

"The brown Hedgehog giggled "So what do you think?"

I tugged on a strand of my new short hair and smiled "I love it, you did a great job!"

She giggled some more at my praise "Thank you dear I try." Her smile faded and a confused expression came on her face"But when I tried to dye you bangs blonde the color just sizzled off…"

I worried about that for a moment but reminded myself that I wasn't supposed to be worrying about anything right now. "It's probably my hair type or something." I said lazily hoping she would buy it, thankfully she did.

I paid my tab and gave her a generous tip and left the salon with a new outlook on life. It was later in the morning right now so even more people were swarming the market. I was somehow able to find my way out of there and managed to find a quiet nearby park and found an empty stone bench to sit down on.

After a few moments I realized this was the first time I actually relaxed since I came to this world. I didn't fear for my life, I wasn't training with my powers, or fighting Dr. Eggman. I fell back on the bench and let the sun wash over me for once I was completely relaxed until I heard a silky voice that made my heart beat in my chest.

"May I sit here?" it asked. I scowled it was _The-dog-who-shall-not-be-name.,_

_So much for relaxing._

I sat up and was about to tell him to go away, but once I saw him my words got caught in my throat. He looked amazing! He wore a white button down shirt with rolled up sleeves and denim jeans with no shoes.

He smiled and took my lack of answer as a _yes, _and sat down right beside me. I looked at him for a few more seconds in until I finally snapped out of it "What are you doing here?" I asked darkly.

He adjusted his position and said "Do I really deserve that tone?"

I scowled "Well… no.. it's just…"

"It's just what?"

I looked down at my feat "It's just you're not Tails the I knew…"

I looked over at him and he seemed to be deep in thought a few second later he looked over at me with his piercing brown eyes "Then we'll start over."

"Start over?" I repeated "What do you mean by that?"

"Well I'll start as not being Tails anymore… that's what you wanted right?"

I looked at him in confusion "Well if I'm not gonna call you Tails any more than what should I call you?"

He brought his hand up to his chin and thought for a moment and smiled " Call me Devdas..."


	17. The Naugus Games

I sighed as I slowly made my way to the Science Center. I had completely forgotten that I had to train with Dimitri today, but with everything that has happened I think I had a good excuse to be late. I looked up to the sky and frowned. It was a very nice day not a cloud or Death Egg in sight. The nice weather almost seemed like an insult to how I was feeling though.

I was almost sure Dimitri hated me, in the past week I had broken almost all of the rules he laid out for me.

_Don't fight Dr. Eggman unless I say you're ready: _Broke it.

_Never show anyone your powers: _Already did that_._

_Don't walk away when I'm talking to you: _I'm pretty sure jumping out a window counts as walking away.

_No head puns: _Don't even ask…

But I decided to start with Dimitri on my_ long_ list of people that I needed to fess up to, it consisted of Dimitri, everyone on team Chaotix, every Freedom Fighter, and Knuckles….

_Knuckles…_I didn't want to face him, but eventually I would have to. I remembered what Dimitri said _Tell him sooner so he'll trust me sooner._

I even though Dimitri knows Knuckles well still had my doubts about telling him _What would he think of me? Would he hate me for keeping this from him for so long, _and more importantly_ What would he do to Nadi-La. _I made my way over the hill antagonized by my own thoughts, until I finally looked up at the science center and froze.

Dimitri was waiting for me at the front door and he was talking to a red echidna that I noticed was Knuckles. I tried to turn around and walk off unnoticed but at that moment Dimitri looked over in my direction "Don't even think about it Nicki!" he yelled "Care to join us?"

I bit my lip and made my way over to the two echidnas. I felt like I was on the long painful walk to the principal's office at school, if my principal was an ancient echidna head-in-a-bubble…

Knuckles eyed me with a serious look on his face and motioned to the door. I took a deep breath and opened the doors and walked into the darkness of the science center.

After a few steps I couldn't take the silence anymore "I didn't do anything wrong." I said.

"We know." Said knuckles calmly "I just want to talk…"

_Of course…_

Dimitri led us through the science center with little difficulty, unlike Knuckles and I who crashed into one a stack of random gadgets every five seconds. I didn't know if Dimitri could see through the dark or he just memorized the locations of each stack of tech.

After I tripped over my fifth computer monitor I saw something stir in the darkness out of the corner of my eye. I blinked a few times and looked back to the area but nothing was there. Before I could say anything I spotted a small dimly lit area up ahead that I recognized was Dimitris charging station.

I walked into the light closely followed by Knuckles who made his way to a computer monitor and sat down while Dimitri hooked himself up to his charging station. I walked up and sat across from Knuckles on my own monitor and waited for one of them to say something.

Before I could go completely insane Dimitri finally spoke up "Please don't be mad Nicki." said Dimitri calmly "But I feel that you have had enough time to prepare yourself for this conversation."

"_He feels you had enough time?" _said a dark raspy voice _"What right does he have making decisions for you?"_

I looked in both directions to see where the voice was coming from but no one was there. I looked back to Knuckles and Dimitri to see if they heard anything, but none of them showed any sighns that they heard anything.

I turned my attention back to Knuckles and started to say "Listen… Knuckles I-" But before I could finish knuckles held up his hand for silence and looked at me with no expression.

"Listen Nicki I knew you weren't telling me something but this?" said Knuckles "I thought Finitevus wanted you because he wanted to do some experiments with human DNA… But being the daughter of Arurora? You should have told me…

I bit my lip and the room seemed to get smaller around me _How did he know?_

"_Dimitri told him! You trusted him with that secret and he told Knuckles anyway!" _said the same raspy voice.

I felt a small flame of anger start to form in my stomach I tried to push it aside but it only came back bigger "Did you tell him?" I asked Dimitri gravely.

Dimitri looked at me guiltily and answered "Yes I did Nicki..." He then looked to Knuckles and frowned "Don't be too hard on the child, she's been through more than you know since she came here…"

Knuckles' face softened and he looked back to me "I just wish you would have told the Chaotix… We could have helped you…"

"_Helped you? You could blast them out of existence without a second thought!"_

I looked at Knuckles, his face was perfectly calm, unlike me who was barley controlling this anger that was coming from nowhere. I wanted to destroy everything that was around me I wanted to scream, to smash all these stupid monitors, I even considered lashing out at Knuckles. But I wasn't that angry….yet.

Dimitri nodded at Knuckles "She's been training with me for a while now and has made good progress same with Nadi-La."Dimitri looked back to me and his eyes narrowed "Speaking of which, I think you should tell Knuckles about Nadi-la too."

Knuckles looked up at Dimitri dumfounded "What about Nadi-La?" he asked.

"_This is it." said the voice" If you tell him he'll throw her out of city! The poor girls been through enough already but knuckles wont care! _

I clenched my fists "Nadi-La is…."

"_He would throw her life away without a second thought! Do you really want that on your head too?"_

I stood up and started daggers at both of the echidna "None of your _damn_ business!" and with that I stomped out of the out of the light and headed to the entrance of the science center.

Navigating through the piles of tech was surprisingly easy on the way out, Knuckles and Dimitri were to surprised that they didn't even go after me. I found my self at the entrance and burst out the doors. But as I made my way to the city I could have sworn that I hear dark laughter…

That night I was wandering aimlessly around New Mobotropolis staying at least two hundred yards away from the science center at all times. It had been a while since I had seen Knuckles and Dimitri so I had plenty of time to cut myself up thinking about the conversation we had. Long story short, I felt horrible.

It wasn't like me to get that angry at someone like that, Dimitri and Knuckles didn't say anything wrong. I was even planning to tell Knuckles about everything sooner or later, so why did I walk out on him?

I sat down on a nearby bench and put my face in my hands. One thing was for sure, I needed to apologize to both of them before they hated me more than they already did. I got up from the bench and hoped they were both still at the Science Center.

As I walked through the streets I noticed no Mobian was in sight. I knew it was late but not late enough that everyone had to go inside all at once. The air suddenly got cooler and I could see my breath. I rubbed my hands on my arms in an attempt to warm them up.

Something wasn't right…

I looked around in all directions and waited for my pendent to burn for any sign of danger, and sure enough a few seconds later it heated up against my skin. As soon as I felt the smallest spark of heat I bolted down a random sidewalk. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something leap at me in pursuit. I couldn't tell exactly who or what it was but I just kept running.

As soon as I turned my first corner I ran into the first ally I saw hoping that my pursuer didn't see me. I ran up to a trash can and hid behind it to explore my options.

If I were to get caught I would have to fight my way out. I didn't have my bow, or my knives. All I was left with was chaos energy or hand to hand combat. I knew my best bet was chaos energy.

Before I could change my mind I jumped out from behind the trashcan, but suddenly something slammed into me and pinned me to the ground. I struggled to break free but I was not strong enough.

"Let me go!" I screamed.

"Sorry luv I can't do that…"

My eyes widened when I realized that I noticed that accent from somewhere. I stopped struggling and looked up at the face of my captor. It was dark but I was able to make out a smug face with a pair of piercing blue eyes, a white muzzle and nicely combed white hair that seemed to cut through the darkness.

"Geoffrey…" I whispered

Geoffrey's grip on me softened "How did you-"

Before he could finish another voice cut in "Geoffrey we're all friends here, so please release the girl."

Geoffrey growled but got up and reluctantly offered me his hand. I glared at him and got up on my own. He shrugged and casually walked over to the ugliest thing I have ever seen.

He was just as tall as me maybe a little taller, he had a long white beard and a black cape that flowed behind him. His whole body looked like some messed up mixture of lobster, bat and rhino. The only things that were not repulsive about him was the shimmering purple chaos emerald on his staff and the golden crown that sat proudly on top of his head.

The creature smiled at me "Hello Nicki, Please excuse my apprentices rash behavior. He isn't the biggest fan of overlanders."

Geoffrey snorted so loud it looked like it hurt. Naugus hissed at him, and Geoffrey reluctantly smiled at me, I could tell that it was the I'm-Going-To-Stab-You-In-The-Back-First-Chance-I-Get kind of smile.

I tried my best to ignore him and turned back to Naugus and narrowed my eyes "How do you know my name." I demanded

His face twisted into what looked like a smile "Oh word gets around fast here." Said Naugus "And speaking of that, My name is Ixis Nagus _king_ of New Mobotropolis. It's a pleasure to meet you.

His voice was like knives scraping off of metal. I clenched my fists, I didn't trust this guy, I had to find my way out of this but the only way out was through Geoffrey and Naugus, my chances of making trough both them in one piece were close to none. I had to keep them talking hopefully someone will notice.

"What do you want so bad that you had to corner me for it" I sneered.

Naugus frowned "Now now there's no reason to talk to me in that tone."

Suddenly all my joints seemed to loosen and my anger at him started to fade away. My whole body started to relax and I would have let myself get caught up in it if I didn't remember who I was talking to. I tried to tighten my muscles back up and get angry at him again but every attempt I made seemed to get washed away.

Naugus's smile returned "Now let's get down to business. You see I have a proposition for you.

"What kind of proposition" I asked still trying to sound mad at him.

Naugus's smile got wider "You see I have been having trouble with this new organization that cal themselves the 'Secret Freedom Fighters'" said Naugus "I have been creating my own organization in order to put their treason to an end, that's where you come in. I have seen you're your abilities and I am quite intruged to learn more about them, so I want you to be to be second in command of this organization. Only to be bested by my apprentice Geoffrey of course..." Naugus held out his hand "So what do you say?"

My mind seemed to be splitting in two different directions. There was a part of me that just wanted to get away from these two, and this other part that was urging me to take his hand accept his offer.

"I-I….." I couldn't control my own emotions the part of me that wanted to join him was winning and it was only a matter of time before that part would take over.

Suddenly out of nowhere I heard a voice "What do you think you're doing Naugus?"

Naugus's attention turned to the direction of the voice behind him, and the pain in my head stopped. Exhausted, I fell to my knees with my head spinning.

Naugus hissed "Well if it isn't Dimitri. I thought you were supposed to be rusting in the Science Center." _Dimitri! _Just hearing his name filled me with hope. I looked up and not only was Dimitri there it was Knuckles too.

Dimitri's metallic face shifted into a cruel sneer "Do you think I would just sit around while you are trying to control Nicki's emotions?"

Controlling my emotions? What did he mean? Then suddenly it hit me, the voice that I heard while talking to Knuckles and Dimitri was Naugus's and that movement I saw in the shadows that must have been Naugus too!

My whole body filled with rage he's the one who made me lash out at Knuckles and Dimitri when they were only trying to help me, and now he was trying to force me to be a part of one of his groups! I wanted to punch his ugly face in, but before I could Naugus continued.

"Why I would never do something low!" said Naugus dramatically "I'm insulted!"

Dimitri looked like he wanted to claw Naugus's eyes out "Get away from Nicki _now_." said Dimitri gravely.

Geoffrey jumped out in front of Naugus and loaded one of his wrist arrows "We are discussing business right now so I suggest you blokes-"

Before Geoffrey could finish Knuckles charged at him with his fist back. Geoffrey smirked and fired his arrow at him. Knuckles quickly sidestepped just avoiding the arrow. He jumped at Geoffrey and aimed a punch straight at his face. With amazing agility Geoffrey avoided the attack making knuckles punch the ground a few feet in front of me.

Geoffrey gracefully landed and smirked "Is that all you got? If you're supposed to be Sonic's rival than he should be-"

Suddenly Geoffrey body tensed up and he fell to the ground with a thud. Behind him I Dimitri's emotionless face with one of his quills where Geoffrey's neck was, the metal tip sparking with electricity.

My mouth fell open "D-dimitri how did you…"

Dimitri ignored me and went straight to Naugus floating around the paralyzed skunk in the process. "I believe we are done here Naugus."

Naugus sneered at Dimitri "I am KING you shall not defy me!"

Dimitri returned his sneer "You are not king! You are only someone who wears the crown and boasts for its power."

Naugus growled and charged at Dimitri full speed. I quickly gathered myself up and ran straight at Naugus I focused my chaos energy into my fist and punched him straight in the face. He was blasted straight into a wall and immediately got up his red eyes filled with malice.

"Listen up Naugus." I said sternly "Not to be rude or anything but I would rather die than join your little team. So you and your proposition can beat it!" Knuckles and Dimitri looked at me surprised, and to tell you the truth I was surprised that I even said that considering Naugus could fry me to a crisp, but it was already out there and I wasn't taking it back.

Naugus got up and brushed himself off "You have just made a grave mistake and a dangerous enemy Nicki." Said Naugus emotionlessly "And believe me you will rue this day for the rest of your life!"

"Go tell someone who cares!" I sneered

Naugus laughed and clapped his hands together making the whole area in front of us burst into blinding flames. I had to cover my eyes and wait for the light to disappear. Once it did both Naugus and Geoffrey were gone.

"Where did they go?" I asked.

Knuckles looked at the place Naugus had once been standing "Probably back to the shadows where he belongs."

I looked at Knuckles and guilt filled my stomach "Listen Knuckles I'm s-"

Before I could finish Knuckles held up his hand to stop me "You have nothing to be sorry for Nicki. You were being manipulated by Naugus, and couldn't control your own emotions. If anything this was his fault."

I sighed in relief, Knuckles Didn't hate me, But looking back I didn't have too much to be relieved about. I learned that Naugus was forming a team to attack the Secret Freedom Fighters and tried to recruit me into it. But now that I refused him who knows what would happen to me, he probably wants me dead. But for now I was safe and I was going to tell Chaotix everything. Maybe even establish a good friendship with everyone including Devdas. But one thing I did know, things were about to get serious and I would need everyone's help to survive Mobius.


	18. Confessions

I twitched nervously in my chair while everyone in the room eyed me suspiciously. I was in Freedom HQ and I had just woken up all the Chaotix that were there at the time. It was early in the morning and the sun was just barley over the horizon, so naturally everyone was extremely cranky, but I really didn't care. I had to tell them.

"You knew about this the whole time and you tell us now?" said Vector

I felt guilt build in my stomach, and before I knew what I was saying an answer passed my lips "I didn't tell you because I was scared..."

Vector quirked an eyebrow "Scared of what?"

I didn't answer. I just sat there looking down at the wood floor. What would they do to me? More importantly what would they do with Nadi-La? I looked over to the hallway that led to her room where she was still sound asleep. I didn't have the heart to wake her up, them staring at me was already bad enough, but if she were here she would be getting it ten times worse, and I didn't want that on my head.

I looked over to Knuckles. He already knew about my mother but when I told him about Nadi-La's parentage it hit him pretty hard. He hasn't looked at me since I said that, instead he was clutching the sides of his wooden chair and was looking down at the floor with a dark look on his face.

I swallowed down more guilt and spoke to Vector "I think Finitevus did something to Nadi-La' I said quietly "She can't even remember her own name."

"Nicki I don't think you know how dangerous this is." Said Julie-Su "Finitevus could have had her bugged."

"She could be a spy!" added Espio "I don't think we should trust her."

I stood up from my chair and slammed my hands on the table in front of me making a few books fall to the floor "Nadi-La is not any of those things." I hissed.

Vector stood up and mimicked me by slamming his own hands on the table so hard the whole room shook "Then prove it." He said in a aggravated tone "Prove both of yourselves, because you know what sister I don't trust you either!"

"Vector!" yelled Mighty

"I can't believe you would say something like that" said Safferon while trying to pull Vector back into his seat.

Let go of me!" Vector growled "Think about it, the being kidnaped by the Destructix thing could have been just a trick to gain our trust! They both can be spies for Finitevus!"

I felt tears start to form in my eyes but I blinked them back. Everything I feared was happening right in front of me I wanted to scream I wanted to punch Vector in the face! But that wouldn't get me anywhere. I brought my hands up from the table and let them dangle loosely on my sides. "If I'm really a spy then answer me this." I said my voice cold. "Why would Finitevus send the Destructix after me once I escaped. Why would I have saved your butt back when we were fighting Eggman! And finally why the hell would I be telling you the truth about myself and Nadi-La!"

Everyone looked at me in shock. Safferons grip on Vector loosened and she slowly flew back to her seat not once taking her eyes off of me, like I was somesort of wild animal waiting to pounce. Vector slowly sat back down and looked at me taken aback.

"WELL?" I demanded.

"I-I-"Vector started but before he could finish he was interrupted by the sudden sound of a door slamming that made everyone jump.

"W-who was that." asked Ray

The side of my mouth twitched a little, they might not of known who it was but I certainly did. Taking the opportunity I followed Knuckles's lead and ran out the backdoor.

* * *

><p>The morning air was cool and I ran my hands up and down my arms in an attempt to get warmer. But the temperature wasn't the only thing I had on my mind, I thought about the Chaotix members I talked to. If they were to see me as an enemy where else would I go?<p>

Angel Island is out unless I want to get captured by Finitevus again. I could go to GUN but they would probably kick me out too…. I could try to go back to Earth maybe Mike and Richard were still there, but I really doubted I could go back home without a certain albino echidnas help. A chill went down spine just thinking about it, besides there's nothing left for me there.

I leaned back on a tree and slowly slid to the ground wrapping my arms around my legs. My eyelids started to feel heavy, I haven't slept for the better part of a day granted I waspretty tired. My eyelids drooped some more, I tried to fight back but eventually the grogginess took over and I fell asleep.

"Nicki… Nicki wake up…."

My eyes slowly slid open and I saw a blurred red figure in front of me. I blinked a few times to clear my vision and I saw Knuckles looking at me with a concerned expression.

"What are you doing here Knuckles." I asked sleepily

Knuckles smiled a little "I was walking through the woods saw you here. Figured it's a bad place to take a nap considering how much enemy's you've made. I smiled and got up from my sleeping place. The sun was higher in the sky, so I guessed it was about noon by now.

"C'mon lets go back to the city." said Knuckles as he started forward. I nodded gratefully and followed him down the path.

Almost immediately Knuckles and I started up a conversation, it was nice talking to him. I talked about the time I blew up my own birthday cake, and I even got him to open up on the time he played Sally in a show the Freedom Fighters put on.

This was the first time Knuckles and I have talked casually, come to think of it this was the first time I talked to someone other than Nadi-La casually in Mobius. I didn't know why but I felt comfortable talking to Knuckles.

"I remember the only person who played himself was Sonic." Knuckles laughed "And in the end he almost kissed me! Can you believe that?"

I laughed "You can't blame Sonic he really gets into the act." I brought my hand up to my pendent and rubbed the smooth gold with my thumb "So why did you leave Freedom HQ earlier." I asked before I could stop myself. Knuckles stopped and his smile faded. I noticed and tried to apologize but he stopped me.

"Because there is no way on Mobius that that girl is in league with Dr. Finitevus."

I stopped a few feet in front of him and quirked an eyebrow "Really? I thought you of all people would hate her. Why do you trust her?"

Knuckles sighed and looked up at me emotionlessly. "I wouldn't say that I trust her in more like I feel sorry for her.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

Knuckles looked up to the sky obviously troubled "I did do some research on both of you when we first met. Your story about your past added up I couldn't find any files on you, not even in GUN's database which has a file on pretty much every overlander there is. I couldn't find anything suspicious in your bag…Other than this chaos emerald that you didn't tell me about…" I shifted my stance uncomfortably and Knuckles continued "I couldn't find any records on Nadi-La either but when I searched her bag I found something … _interesting_…"

"What did you find?"

"Drawings.. all with horrifying images."

"Of what?"

Knuckles looked at me gravely "They were all of Dr. Finitevus conducting experiments… I remember one was of him injecting a Mobian with something while the Mobian was pleading with him to stop" Knuckles's fist tightened "There was one of him experimenting on the brotherhood of guardians ,my ancestors, and some of them were even drawn in the first person… That worries me."

My blood froze. _The first person_? Does that mean Finitevus-…No…No, that couldn't be true. Is Finitevus really that sick? My fists tightened "Maybe they were just of nightmares she had."

Knuckles looked like he wanted to believe what I just said but in the end he just couldn't "Nicki I think the reason why Nadi-La can't remember anything is because her body forced her to forget… It would explain a lot right? "I stared at him for a moment and walked forward without answering.

_Yes… it would explain a lot….._

Knuckles and I didn't speak to each other the whole way back to Freedom HQ when we finally arrived we saw Vector waiting for us outside. I prepared myself for another fight but surprisingly he apologized to me and said the Chaotix would give us a chance. And thankfully that made me forget about what Knuckles had just told me.

They knew about who I was and they still accepted me! I felt like someone too bricks off my shoulders and was about to hug Vector but I was too tired to do even that. Even though I took a small nap earlier I was still exhausted.

I dragged myself to my room, briefly stopping at Nadi-La's door. She was out at the moment so going in and looking at those drawings would be pretty easy right about now. I debated it for a moment and decided that it would be best if she told me herself.

With that decided I walked the rest of the way to my room and dove on the bed. The sheets felt like heaven and I almost immediately fell asleep. But despite finally getting some rest my dreams were anything but friendly.


	19. The Nightmare

The second my eyes closed I felt a tugging sensation and suddenly I opened my eyes to see I was transported to a place that definitely wasn't my room. I looked around in alarm there but there wasn't much here. I was in a dim sandstone hallway with a lit torch on either side of me but sadly they were the only source of light I had, the rest of the hallway was pitch black.

Where was I? Is this all a dream? I looked down the intimidating hallway in front of me. I sensed something evil, I didn't want to go down that hall, but what choice did I have? Behind me was a dead end, and I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to go back home until I found out where this led to. I took another look down the hallway in front of me, the darkness kind of reminded me of black ink. I took a shaky breath and pressed forward into the darkness.

I hadn't even turned my first corner before I started to hear voices. I was so relieved to hear someone that I immediately rushed forward completely forgetting that I was in unknown territory. Suddenly a light came on practically blinding me since my eyes were so accustomed to the darkness of the hallway.

I blinked the remaining splotches out of my eyes and looked behind me and saw a door and a solid wall. I looked at it puzzled "How did I-" before I could finish the same voices cut me off.

I ran after the sound and eventually turned a corner and suddenly my blood froze. Right in front of me I saw both Scourge and Fiona standing only a few yards away. Remembering Dimitri's training I quickly took cover behind a wall and peeked out from behind to see what they were doing thankfully they didn't seem to hear me.

Fiona jabbed Scourges chest with her finger "I know you were looking at that other girl today don't lie to me!"

Scourge threw his arms in the air "I told ya Fi I was not looking at any other girls!"

Fiona muzzle turned red and she brought her hand up and slapped Scourge straight in the cheek screaming "LIAR!"

I would have laughed but as soon as she was finished she stormed off in my direction and turned into my corner. My legs froze and I waited for her to attack me, but instead as she stormed by her body passed straight through my own, and she kept on walking like that didn't even happen.

I stood there puzzled for a moment and for the first time since I arrived I looked down at myself. My whole body was transparent, there were small traces of color where my cloths and skin was but I guessed I was the only one who could see it.

I heard a heavy sigh and jerked my head up and saw Scourge who was watching Fiona until she finally turned a corner and we couldn't see he anymore. I looked back to Scourge he brought his hand up to the side of his cheek which was practically glowing red from the impact.

Suddenly out of nowhere I heard a voice that made both me and Scourge jump "Problems with Fiona?" it said. Scourge quickly turned around but when he noticed it was just Lightning his muscles relaxed.

A smug smile appeared on the Lynx's face "I'm sorry, did I scare you Scourge?"

Scourge tensed back up and barred his teeth "Well how do you expect someone to react when you sneak up on them in a place like this!" Scourge took a deep breath to calm himself down but still seemed pretty angry "So what do you want from me anyway?" he asked.

Lightning frowned "Dr. Finitevus told me to tell you to come to his lab once you got back..." Lightning leaned in closer "You did get it right?"

Scourge smirked and pulled a small brown pouch out of his pocket "Got it right here. You don't know what I had to go through to get this thing..." Scourge tossed it from one hand to another and looked at it questionably "What does the Doc plan on doing with this thing anyway?"

Lightning shrugged "Your guess is as good as mine…"he said as he walked past Scourge "You never know with Dr. Finitevus…" without saying another word he turned a corner and was gone.

Scourge starred at that corner for a moment and let out a small laugh "Lightning… I swear this this place is rubbing off on him." Scourge placed the small pouch back in his pocket and started down the hallway that I guessed was the way to Finitevus's lab.

I finally knew where I was. I was right in the middle of Dr. Finitevus's base, and judging from what I just heard he must of sent Scourge and Fiona on a mission to get whatever was in that pouch. I knew the only way to find out what was in that pouch was to follow him to Finitevus's lab. A chill went down my spine just thinking about it, I would sooner battle Eggman again than be in the same room with that maniac invisible or not…

I looked back up at Scourge who was now almost to the end of the hallway. Someone wanted me to see something that had to do with Dr. Finitevus and I would have to see for myself before I could leave… I quickly ran up to Scourge knowing whatever Finitevus was planning to do with that pouch there would be no stopping him…

The walk to the lab seemed to take forever, there was so many doors that I thought Scourge would turn into but instead he walked by all of them. Wherever the lab was it must have been on the other side of the base or something, suddenly Scourge stopped.

I would have bumped into him if I was really there but instead I went straight through his body. After stumbling a few steps I looked back to see Scourge had walked up to a wall and was running his hands on it like he was looking for something. Suddenly one of the blocks he ran his hand over pushed down and a section of the wall opened up revealing a hidden set of doors.

Scourge walked up to them and knocked twice. From the inside I heard a muffled voice "Come in…" it said. Scourge pushed open the doors making a loud creak that echoed throughout the hallway Scourge walked in and after a moments hesitation I followed his lead.

This lab was smaller than his old one the flores and walls were still a metallic color. One of the walls was covered with bookshelves filed with files and books that were so old I couldn't read their titles. On the ground along another wall was a set of shackles probably meant for prisoners… or test subjects. Dim lights hung from the ceiling, their ligh making the whole lab look like an operating room. In the center was a desk with three computers on it and sitting on a black swivel chair right in front of that desk writing on a piece of paper was Dr. Finitevus.

He stopped writing and turned his swivel chair to face Scourge. A smile appeared on his face "Ah Scourge I'm trusting your mission was a success?"

Scourge reached into his pocket and pulled out the brown pouch and tossed it to Finitevus "Yea I got it, but what do you plan on doing with that thing?" he asked Finitevus undid the strings on the pouch while I leaned in as close as my fear would let me. He put his hand in and pulled out a small black flash drive. It looked like the kind I would use in school but more advanced.

Finitevus's smile got wider and he turned around and plugged it into his computer. "You will find out soon enough what I'm planning." said Finitevus "But in order for this plan to be a success I need this information."

Suddenly all sorts of pictures and words appeared on his computer screen. Curious, I leaned in closer to see If I could see what it said, but unfortunately everything was in code. Giving up on cracking the code I looked at the pictures and noticed that they all had one thing in common… they were all taken in New Mobotropolis.

Scourge leaned in and smiled "Ahh I get what your planning." He said smugly "But are you sure you can get her with the Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix there?"

My heart seemed to sink into my stomach. I knew who Scourge was talking about when he said _'her'_.…me.

Finitevus frowned "The Chaotix and Freedom Fighters will not be a problem if my plan goes accordingly." Finitevus got out of his chair and walked straight towards me, forgetting that I was invisible I backed up until he finally stopped in front of a bookshelf. He looked up and his golden eyes were staring straight into mine.

My muscles froze and my heart started beating faster _did he know I was here_? He reached up and his hand went straight through my throat I heard his hand take hold of somthing and he slowly pulled a file from the bookshelf and walked back to his desk with the file in hand. My heart rate went down and my body stated to relax knowing that that was just a coincidence.

Dr. Finitevus sat back down in his chair and looked through the information on his computer for a few moments until he finally spoke again "I must say I'm impressed. Our double agents did a good job digging out this information. It's too bad they actually believed me when I said they would be spared from the world's destruction… those poor deluded fools. They only gave me the key to their own destruction and everyone else's. Once I accomplish my goals there will be no one who will stand in my way" he chuckled and turned his chair to face me and our eyes locked once again "Isn't that right….. Nicki….."


	20. Help From A Friend

He knew….

He knew that I was here all along… but why didn't he say anything before? I looked back into his golden eyes which were still staring straight into mine. Tremors of fear started to fill my body and my knees gave out from under me.

Suddenly I felt the same tugging sensation that I felt when I first came, I could feel myself returning to my body. The image in front of me blurred and disappeared altogether but not before I heard Maniacal Laughter that I knew belonged to Dr. Finitevus.

"Nicki please wake up!" yelled a familiar different voice. Suddenly my eyes snapped open and I bolted into an upright position. My breathing was heavy and my whole body was drenched with sweat. Suddenly the same voice spoke again but in a more relieved tone "Nicki! Thank goodness! I didn't think you were ever gonna wake up!"

My eyes wide with fear I looked over to where the voice was coming from and saw sitting on the edge of my bed was Devdas. Once I saw him my heart filled with something I really couldn't describe. It was more than relief but it wasn't quite happiness, whatever it was it took away some of the trauma I was feeling.

He looked into my eyes and his small smile faded into a serious expression. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed me against his chest. Normally I would have pulled away from something like this, but right now I needed someone I felt like if he were to let me go I would be dragged back to Finitevus's base and I wouldn't be able to return. I wrapped my arms around him and held on for dear life.

I buried my face in his fur like I used to do when I was upset as a kid. Thankfully he just hugged me back and didn't show any reaction to this. Instead he leaned his head close to my ear and calmly said "What did you see Nicki?"

Reluctantly I pulled away from him and wrapped my hands around my sheets in a attempt to get them to stop shaking. I took a deep breath and whispered "Finitevus… he's back… He has information on New Mobotropolis and has double agents inside."

I looked at the floor but when Devdas didn't answer I over nervously. His eyes were wide and his hands curled into tight fists "So that's what happened…." He mumbled.

"What are you talking about Dev?" I asked "Do you know- Hey!" Devdas had grabbed my hand and yanked me to my feat "What are you-"

Before I could finish he already answered "I'm taking you to see one of the only people who could help us in this situation." Before I could even get a chance to ask who, he pulled me up and dragged me out of Freedom HQ and into the city.

Devdas and I raced through the streets until we came to a small house. It looked like all the other houses that surrounded it the only difference was it had pieces of scrap metal covering the front yard. I wrinkled my nose in distaste, I was probably the biggest neat freak you would ever meat, so naturally it didn't take a genius to figure out that I hardly approved of this.

Devdas started pounding at the door "Roter! I know you're in there, open up this we need to talk to you!" The door slowly creaked open revealing a drowsy looking walrus who was rubbing his eyes trying to wake himself up. He was grey with a tan stomach, he wore a backwards yellow cap and a green belt that was slung across his chest like a sash.

He yawned making his two sharp teeth in the front look more menacing. "What do you want so late at night Devdas?" he asked sleepily. Devdas narrowed his eyes "We need to talk Roter." He said "I know where that stolen information is..."

* * *

><p>Roter, Devdas and I sat around a rectangular coffee with our only source of light being a lamp straight in the middle of it. The rest of his house wasn't much better than the outside, papers and blue prints covered the walls while machine parts covered the tables.<p>

For the first time since I told my story Roter spoke up "I'm so sorry Nicki I really am. Double agents living in our own city? I should have known with everything that's been going on." Said Roter grimly "I-I thought the citys firewalls were impenetrable but someone managed to slip through them and steel some information. I suspected Eggman at first, but Finitevus? I would have never guessed…"

Devdas and I both nodded grimly "I have no doubt in my mind that the information that Finitevus had was the same information that was stolen."

I looked at Roter who was looking down at the table grimly "Roter, how was the hacker able to Nicole's defenses anyway?" I asked "Not even Eggman can do that…"

Roter sighed and pressed his palms together "Didn't you hear? Nicole was banished from the city about a week ago… It was _'king Naugus's_' orders.

The shock of that statement seemed to travel all throughout my body "She's been…. Banished?" I repeated.

Rotor looked at me grimly and continued "Well one thing we know for sure is that security measures need to be increased" Rotor opened a drawer, brought out a pair of black and yellow gloves putting them on "These gloves were made by Nicole, they can morph into a battle suit that can let me fight even with my back injury. They can also manipulate the Nanites of this city like Nicole used to…"

"So that basically means you can make anything you want with the Nanites, right? Even upgraded defences for the city" I said hopefully.

"That's pretty much it" he hesitated for a moment "…. But there's just one problem"

"What's that?" asked Devdas

"All changes made to the city using Nanites must be approved by Naugus first."


	21. A Need For Power

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN OUR REQUEST IS DENIED!" I screamed

"A wicked smile appeared on Naugus's face "Your request was denied because it would be pointless to waste our resources on something that was just dreamt up by a stupid girl."

I growled and lunged at him No longer able to contain the urge. But before I could get within ten feet Devdas and Rotor pulled me back "Don't do anything you're going to regret Nicki!" Devdas growled.

I laughed hysterically "Oh I'm not gonna _regret_ this! In fact I'm going to savoir every moment!"

Hamlin stood up "Ms. Nicki! If you don't calm down this instant you will be asked to leave and your request will have no further debate." He said sternly. I stopped struggling and growled, like hell they will. As long as '_the king'_ denies our request the council vote doesn't matter.

I looked up at Naugus my eyes full of rage, him and Gregory were both standing there with smiles on their faces. Right beside him was what used to be Rotor's seat but instead of him sitting there it now was a proud looking Mobian cat. He had gold fur and wore the council's uniform. He also had a long jagged scar going down his left eye, but Instead of covering that eye he kept it open reveling a milky blue he kept it turned to the corner but he did keep his good eye on us, watching our every move with interest.

I don't know why but this guy gave me a bad feeling. He looked like he belonged on the battlefield more than he belonged in the council so why was he here? I shook my head and quickly reminded myself that I was here for a more important reason than questioning the council members.

Hamlin straightened his papers "If there is a threat like a double agent in our city I think we can all agree that action must be taken." The rest of the council members nodded and Hamlin continued "We can also agree that its risky taking action against something that might not even be there. I don't think one dream is enough evidence for something as big as a double agent."

"But…" Rotor added "The Freedom fighters have also had experiences like Nicki had that have usually saved Knothole multiple times. Like Sir Charles's nephew Sonic or Mrs. Prowers son Tails." There was some light discussion and nodding of heads amongst the council members. I smiled at Rotor gratefully. You could tell Rotor was experienced at this, he could make anything sound convincing I was glad he was on my side of this issue.

Now it was my turn to flash Naugus a smug look, but he wouldn't go down so easily. He slammed his fists on the table in anger "Are you all fools? Are you really going to let a fifteen year old girl tell us how to run our city? BAH!" he spat "I believe our city our city's defenses are good enough despite a few misguided opinions" he flashed us a look "We have the force field and myself to guard the people, and not to mention we have forces inside that will stop anything or anyone that poses a threat.

Devdas growled "The freedom fighters are too busy with Eggman to worry about a double agent inside the city. You're the king, it's your job to take care of that!

A small smile crept on to Naugus's face "Is it not the responsibility of the freedom fighters to protect the citizens from the dangers inside and outside of my city?"

"We had no way of knowing-" started Rotor, but before he could finish Naugus cut him off and continued.

"Maybe the freedom fighters should spend less time dreaming and more time defending those you swore to protect…." He sat back in his chair with a satisfied grin on his face "I believe it's time the council voted" he said. He flashed a look at a small brown porcupine who was the first council member in line.

""N-nay" he said uncomfortable with the attention. I sighed _looks like we're off to a good start. _Next in line was Hamlin who after a moment's thought said Nay. Finally after him was Rosemary Prower who thankfully said Yea, Next was Naugus who _surprise surprise_ said Nay.

I narrowed my eyes, it was the gold cats turn to vote I really thought he was going to say _Nay _but surprisingly after a moment's thought he finally said Yea.

I looked at him my eyes wide with shock. His good eye turned toward me and a crooked smile appeared on his face. I quickly looked away from him just in time to hear Sir Charles vote _Yea_.

A small smile creped onto the side of my face until I heard the final vote belonging to Penelope the platypus.

_Nay_….

I did a quick mental headcount, the totals were three _Yeas, _and…. four _Nays._ My heart sank into my stomach. I looked at Rotor and Devdas on either side of me, they each had a grim expression showing me that I had not made any mistakes with my totals. I knew I was going to regret this but I slowly looked up at the throne where Naugus was sitting. He was smiling wildly at me and at his side was Geoffrey who pretty much had the same look but more contained.

"I'm terribly sorry" jeered Naugus "Majority rules, your request for alteration of weaponry has officially been denied. Have a nice day….."

It was anything but a nice day… In fact, the weather today seemed to match the way I felt. The sky was dark and gloomy and it looked like it would blast anything with lightning that dared to get too close to it. You could hear thunder in the distance predicting the arrival of a storm.But being the smart people we were, the first thing we did after getting kicked out of the castle was sat on the closest metal bench to discuss what happened.

After sitting down the first thing I did was pound my fist off the armrest. It let off a loud ring that startled everyone who was heading home for shelter from the storm. "That wasn't fair that bastard totally fixed that!" I yelled

Rotor sighed "I wouldn't call him that but you probably are right, but we don't have any proof that he did so there's nothing we can do about it."

"I'm guessing you can't just make the changes to the city's systems anyway?" said Devdas.

"I wish I could, but if I were to make even the smallest change without permission from the council. I could get put on trial for treason or-or possibly exiled…

I traced circles on the arm of the bench _being exiled for only trying to help… Just like Nicole._ I looked up at Roter "Can you do anything at all?"

"I-I'm sorry, but if Finitevus or the Destructix would attack the city I'm sure the Freedom Fighters will do anything to stop him." said Rotor hopefully.

I slowly shook my head and started to speak softly "No….. no you don't get it. Finitevus is after me not the city, and I don't know what it is but he has a plan to get the freedom fighters and Chaotix out of the way… a-and when he has a well thought out plan he almost never fails….

I felt something wet stream down my cheek. I quickly whipped it away but not before Devdas noticed. He held his hand out in front of him "Huh? I guess it started raining a little early I guess we better get going Rotor..."

Rotor looked at him with a confused expression "What are you talking about the storm is still-" Before he could finish Devdas yanked him up and dragged him off in the other direction despite Rotor's protests.

A small smile appeared on my face. Devdas knew as well as I did that the storm was still about a mile away. That was sweet of him…. I sat there for a while listening to the sound of the thunder drawing ever closer until I felt a spark of heat in my pendent. I quickly sat up straight expecting an attack from Naugus, but instead walking towards me was a golden cat the same cat who had Rotor's spot in the Council Of Acorn.

He stopped a few feet in front of me "Hello, your names Nicki right?" I nodded and grabbed the hilt of the knife in my boot for safety. He was definitely the one who was making my pendent burn, but he didn't seem hostile in any way. He was still dressed in his council uniform and he looked like he was heading home for the day. "You look like your troubled." He said curiously "Would you mind telling me what's wrong?"

I was honestly surprised, usually when my pendent burns like it was now I'm about to get shot, kidnapped, brain-washed, or attacked by some random weirdo. But never once did my pendent warn me about a guy who wanted me to talk about my feelings.

Without an answer he sat down beside and looked up with his good eye keeping his scarred milky blue one turned to the side. When you looked at him up close you can see that he was a lot younger than when you looked at him far away. He looked like he was in his late twenties maybe early thirty's "If it means anything I think you had a very convincing argument…." he said

I couldn't stay quiet any longer I had to bite "You really thought so?"

"Oh yes, King Naugus off all people should know the significance of dreams I'd bet my sword he's had plenty of those himself. But I also know he holds a grudge against you for reasons unknown, I believe that could have influenced his vote."

I laughed "Ya think?"

He chuckled to himself "Yes I guess it goes without saying that that was the reason king Naugus denied your request." We were silent for a moment before he continued "Your scared aren't you?"

"What was your first clue? Without the city's defenses strengthened the Destructix will come and I won't stand a chance…" I shuttered just thinking about getting dragged back to Finitevus's by Scourge again.

"Yes the Destructix, the council has records on these mercenaries. Each member is gifted in combat, and when they're together they pose a huge threat."

Each word he spoke seemed to add unbearable weight to my shoulders "Thanks for reminding me." I sneered

He held his hands up defensively "Now now, I'm only trying to help and I will do so by saying this… You said you wouldn't stand a chance against those mercenaries right?"

I nodded my head "Right.."

"Then make yourself stronger… with the chaos emeralds." There was a crack of lightning that cast a shadow over one half of his face but illuminated the half with the scarred eye.

I looked away and thought for a moment "Yeah but I doubt my chaos emerald will give me enough power to defeat all of them."

"Then use two." he suggested before I could even ask where I could get one, he already answered that for me "I believe Eggman is in possession of one at the moment and knowing the Freedom Fighters they'll probably go on some sort of mission to weaken the Death Egg any time now. Perhaps you could tag along with them and do something a little…. extra?"

I felt a drop of water fall on my hand but I ignored it and thought about what he said. The only way I could liberate the chaos emerald was if I went off alone in the Death Egg. That was practically a suicide mission right there, but right now I was desperate. If I did succeed in getting the emerald I could stop worrying about the Destructix recapturing me. The thought seemed so wonderful, to think I could stop worrying about them and Finitevus, I would have enough power to keep them away from me.

The rain was really coming down now the cat stood up "Well I best get going and you should to if you don't want to get sick."

He started of "Wait!" I yelled "What's your name?"

"Benedict!" he yelled back. After a few moments he was out of view and I decided that I had to go too. I ran off my pendent still searing against my chest. But for the first time ever I ignored it.


	22. Subject X

Good news, I was able to talk Sonic and Tails into letting me go on a mission to the Death Egg. Bad News, he put me on a team that was supposed to stick together at all times. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since I'm still new to this _freedom fighter_ thing.

Basically I was put on a stealth team that consisted of Antoine, Amy, and myself. We were supposed to sneak in and blow up an engine room while the other team distracted Eggmans defenses with a frontal attack.

Getting in was easy, and if everything went according to plan we should get out quick without any trouble. But that's not what I wanted, I had to get away from my team so I could go and search for Eggmans chaos emerald on my own. But right about now that was looking pretty impossible.

Believe it or not laying bombs was a dangerous process, so Antoine was hovering over me with every charge I set since it was my first time. But to tell you the truth he had a good reason to be nervous, I never was good with things that are supposed to blow up. Kind of the reason why they had to remodel the science lab back at school. But thankfully after a lot of "help" from Antoine I was able to get my share of charges set and start planning my escape.

Unfortunately I couldn't see any way out, but just as I was about to give up something rumbled in the hallway. Antoine's ears perked up and he looked up nervously "Did you hear zat?" he whispered

Just as I was about to nod one of the walls blew up sending all of us the floor. Once the smoke cleared all I could see was a hug hole where the wall once stood and three of Eggmans Swatbots standing in front of it, their red glowing eyes staring right at us.

"**INTRUDERS DETECTED!" **said one of the robots **"IDENTIFYING… FREEDOM FIGHTERS ANTOINE, AMY AND SUBJECT X! OBJECTIVE: CAPTURE AND IMMEDIATE LEGIONIZATION!"**

Before I could even think Amy grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the way just as the swatbots began open-fire. The all of us ran as fast as we could to the exit with the swatbots at our heels. We were only a few steps away the exit when about ten more swatbots started filtering in from there stopping us in our tracks.

We were cornered both the exit and the hole in the wall were well guarded by Eggmans forces, and the only way out that I could see was to fight. By the looks on Amy and Antoine's faces they were thinking the same thing. I quickly strung a tech arrow and aimed it at the first robot I saw.

It was then I realized that this ambush was a blessing in disguise. If I could slip away without Amy or Antoine noticing I could go off and find the chaos emerald. I smirked as I fired my first arrow making the robot erupt in sparks just like every machine I hit with my tech arrows.

I knew what happened next so I moved in and kicked him straight in the chest knocking him into his two buddies behind him. I ran and took cover behind a pillar covering my ears as he blew to pieces filling the room with smoke. It was now or never so I came out from my cover and booked it toward the hole in the wall and didn't stop running until I couldn't hear the sounds battle anymore.

After I was sure there were no sign of any danger I stopped to regain my breath. I was all alone now and it was time for me to go and find the chaos emerald.

Thankfully one of my first lessons Dimitri taught me was how to sense a chaos emerald. We practiced a little with power rings since their energy signature was similar to chaos emeralds. I was always able to scout out the power rings but a chaos emerald could be completely different, but at least it was better than going at this blindly.

I stared down the intimidating hallway in front of me and narrowed my eyes knowing that this would be the most dangerous part of my mission. A part of me wanted to go back to Amy and Antoine but I knew I had to keep moving forward even if I risked fighting Eggman alone. Before I could change my mind I started down the hallway letting my senses guide me.

You would think that the "most dangerous" part of my mission would be… well more exciting, but to tell you the truth right now I was almost bored. I haven't been able to sense any energy signature yet and everything has been suspiciously quiet… almost like Eggmans forces were purposely staying out of my way. I shook my head, I couldn't afford to think like that right now I needed to concentrate, and trying to get into Eggmans head was as pointless as it gets.

Suddenly the lights dimmed to almost pitch black interrupting my thoughts. I quickly reached back to my quiver to get an arrow but suddenly I felt a spark. It wasn't the type of spark I get from my pendent but one that I felt in my own mind. Was it the chaos emerald? My head darted in every direction until I saw something stir in the darkness.

I narrowed my eyes in an attempt to see better. I wasn't able to make out features but I did notice it was in the shape of a mobian. "H-hello?" I said cautiously.

As soon it heard me the figure darted down the hall. "WAIT!" I yelled as I ran to catch up. Whoever it was they didn't slow down for me, they just kept running. After a few moments I realized the spark I felt was coming from the mobian running from me. "Please stop!" I yelled… but yet again there was no answer.

Without warning the figure turned a corner. I skidded to a halt and slowly followed it. As soon as I turned I heard my footsteps and pants echo off the walls meaning I just entered a room and a large one at that. Without warning there was a loud bang from behind me, that couldn't have been good.

I turned on my heel and sprinted back to where I entered, but I found myself hitting face-first into a wall. I stumbled backwards and clutched my nose painfully. I felt fresh blood trickle through my fingers my nose throbbed painfully but thankfully it didn't seem broken, but it sure as hell was close.

If that wasn't bad enough I felt cold hands wrap around my neck and slam me into a wall. I gaged and tried to rip the hands from my throat but it was no use. All I could do was sit there kick and gag while who knows what happened around me.

Finally I heard familiar laughter that made my eyes widen with fear, then intense light filled the room temporarily blinding me since my eyes that were so accustomed to the darkness.

When my vision finally came back into focus I looked up at my captor. It was a robot… but not just any robot it had blue armor, dark auburn hair that spiked out on either side with one thick strand covering one eye and glowing pale blue eyes that were staring at me emotionlessly…. "Mecha Sally…" I choked

"That's right! And thank you for making it so easy for her to lead you here!"

I growled and looked past Mecha Sally to see Eggman floating a few feet off the ground in his Egg-O-Matic with a devilish smile on his face.

"Hello Subject X!"


	23. Pity

_I'm done for… _Was all I could think of while Mecha Sally crushed my throat with her cold metal hands.

And if that wasn't bad enough Eggman was there blabbering on about his miraculous plan and something called subject X… I really couldn't understand him, you try listening to someone without any oxygen going to your brain… I wasn't even sure he knew I couldn't hear him since he just kept on talking….

"Oh ho ho ho! I bet your wandering how I knew you were coming!" Gloated Eggman "Well the answers simple you see your friend-…. Are you even listening to me!?"

I gave him the biggest gag I could manage and kicked in response.

"Oh right that… Mecha Sally dear, release the girls throat we need her alive…"

"**Yes Master." **said Mecha Sally as she tore her hand away. I fell on my knees and gasped for air only to get what air I gained knocked out of me when she slammed me down on the floor.

"That's better." jeered Eggman "Well now that I have your attention, how did you like your last visit to my wonderful base of operations?"

I struggled futilely against Mecha Sally's grip. Let's just say moving a boulder would have been easier than breaking free her grip.

"My name is not Subject X, It's Nicki!" I spat "N-I-C-K-I, got it memorized? And your base is as sick and twisted as you are Fatass!"

He wagged his finger at me and smiled evilly "I couldn't care less what your name is, do you really expect me to learn the names of every one of my victims? I am much too busy for that, and as for my base…. maybe a quick tour will change your mind." He snapped his fingers "Mecha Sally, if you would…" He turned his machine around and went off towards the exit.

Following her orders Mecha Sally slid one of her arms around my waist and hoisted me off the ground and followed her master, despite my protests…

I have seen some truly horrible things since I was first dragged to Mobius. But Eggmans base was high up on the list of the worst. As I was dragged through the halls we past many of Eggmans Roboticized Mobians, all of them doing some sort of job for him.

One thing I found really weird was every single one we past stopped and watched us… particularly me. They all seemed to have the same looks on their faces, but it wasn't the emotionless slave look that Robians were supposed to have, it was more like a look of sadness… pity. Almost like they've seen this before…. like they knew what was going to happen…

Realizing that I darted my head away from them. But of course Eggman noticed that and started telling me about each one of them. If looking at them was painful then listening to these stories was torture. I covered my ears but every word he said seemed to make it through and stuck in my thoughts.

I didn't even know why Eggman took the time to remember these Mobians names more or less know their stories. Imean he didn't even take the time to remember my own name how were these Mobians any different? But then I noticed a pattern in all the stories that made it all clear to me.

They were all freedom fighters in some way shape or form. They MADE him remember them.

Maybe that was why they were able to look at me the way they did. They're too strong to loose themselves to Eggman. Maybe there is enough willpower left in them to still be themselves inside that metal shell.

A flicker of hope lit inside me but was immediately washed away _What if Eggman knew that? _He knew all of these Robian's used to fight for a part of Mobius, now here they were serving the man they swore to protect the world from. If they were still fighting for control that must have been beyond painful for them and what if these stories weren't just to get to me… but to add to their pain?

Then it all made sense he didn't just Roboticize them and make them work for his sick empire… he BROKE them. He mentally tortured them until they gave into the will of the machine becoming just another one of his minions. That would be needlessly cruel but I wouldn't put it past Eggman…

Suddenly Mecha Sally's footsteps came to a stop and I looked up to see that we were in front of a huge iron door that seemed to blend in with the rest of the base. I heard soft laughter above me and looked up to see Eggman punching a code into a keypad. "And for the last stop of my tour I'd like to show you my favorite room in this magnificent base! The keypad let out two loud beeps and glowed green. A crack appeared in the center of the door and started to separate leaving the sound of scraping metal echo through the halls. Before I knew it the door disappeared and we were standing in front of one of the most horrible rooms I have ever seen.

Robotic limbs covered the walls along with a few selective tools. Computers lined the walls and right in the center of it all was a silver table with arm and leg restraints. Even worse than that was a machine that hung above it that had pretty much every cutting tool known to man and maybe a few that weren't known to man. We took a few steps into the room and almost immediately I was overwhelmed with the scent of chemicals and sweat. I covered my nose but it still seemed to stick to me.

Eggman stopped and stepped onto a platform that lowered him softly to the ground. He leisurely walked over to Mecha Sally and I and knelt down so we were face to face and I could see my own terrified reflection in his glasses. "This dear…. is the Legionization room!"


	24. No Chaos Emerald?

"No…" I said softly at first, but my voice progressively got louder "No! No! NO! NO!" I started to kick and struggle so hard that even Mecha Sally seemed to have a hard time keeping me still.

Eggman had jumped back in alarm, as a soft glow started to radiate from my skin. "No way I'm gonna become one of your legionnaires!" I hissed "I would rather die than work for you!"

"Mecha Sally!" screamed Eggman "What's going on!?"

**"SUBJECTS TEMPERATURE IS CURRENTLY 783 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. AND IS RISING RAPIDLY…**

"Well don't just stand there! STOP HER!"

"**…Yes Master."**

I felt a sharp pain on the back of my neck and everything in my body went numb. I felt my light and warmth, that I tried to cling onto so desperately, leave me and then… I blacked out.

I woke up later with a pounding headache and an ache in my neck. I tried to move my arms, but I found that I couldn't. I tried the same thing with my legs but they wouldn't move either.

I suddenly remembered where I was and slowly opened my eyes hoping that this was all just a nightmare. But to my disappointment it wasn't…

As soon as I opened my eyes I saw that right now I was restrained on a table by my arms, legs and waist. I pulled desperately against them but they wouldn't budge.

"You're wasting your time. I designed those restraints myself." I looked to the direction of the voice to see Eggman and two other legionnaires standing in front of a computer screen. Without even looking at me he continued "My my, you didn't stay out for as long as I anticipated. But at least we can use this time to talk before the operation."

"I have no reason to say anything to you." I hissed

He turned around to face me with a look of mock surprise on his face "Really? I thought you would have liked to know where my chaos emerald was…"

My eyes widened "How did you-"

Before I could even finish he already answered my question "I was tipped off by your friend Naugus, right before you arrived with the freedom fighters. He said that you were a nuisance to his city and you were better off being a mindless legionnaire."

This was Naugus's doing!? But none of this made any sense how did he know I was going to the death egg with the freedom fighters?

Without even knowing what said I asked my next question "Where is it?..."

"I suppose you're talking about the chaos emerald" he gloated "Well to tell you the truth I never had one to begin with!" I felt something inside me break, _there was never a chaos emerald to begin with?_ "I used to have a chaos emerald but it was unfortunately lost after my "Project Clean Sweep" plan."

"T-then what was I tracking?" I asked shakily

"Excellent question! Mecha Sally come here please." Almost out of nowhere Mecha Sally came to his side. Eggman smiled as he turned her around and opened up her back. My eyes widened the only thing there was her main generator with a glowing gold power ring around it. My blood froze, I was trackin the power ring the whole time?! I might as well have just given myself up to Eggman as soon as I came here.

Eggman closed Sally's back and looked at the two legionnaires. "Are the preparations ready?" he asked.

Both of the legionnaires nodded in union. Eggmans smile got wider "Well "_Nicki"_ I hope those were all the questions you had, because it's time to start the legionization."

One of the legionnaires walked up to me with an oxygen mask. I could hear the gas flowing through the tube, the scent of it was so strong I started to get woozy from where I was laying. It only got worse as he brought it closer and closer.

I quickly took a gasp of as much fresh air as I could and held my breath out of desperation_. I don't want to be legionized_ was all I could think. I kept on repeating it in my mind over and over.

The mask was now covering my face, and I couldn't hold my breath that much longer. I couldn't help but think what my friends would do if I was legionized.

I thought about Knuckles… We had only just became friends and out of everyone he probably understood me the most.I thought about Nadi-La, the little sister I never had. I didn't want her to invent weapons to try and stop me. Then, I thought about Devdas the man who would move mountains and face death just to keep me safe and happy. Would he blame this all on himself?

A tear slid down my face. My lungs burned it was only a matter of time before my body would force me to breath. I looked up at the madman smiling down at me. "You really try hard don't you" he said "But it's useless once I get my chaos emerald back, I'll invade the whole city of new Mobotropolis and everyone will be legionized! After the so-called beacon of hope is gone the whole world will bow down to me! And no one will be able to-"

What happened next is kind of hard to describe. I guess you can say that "all hell broke loose." The first thing that happened was sonic spin-dashing through the wall and hitting eggman straight in the stomach "You were saying doc?" Mecha Sally once again came out of nowhere and attacked Sonic. The legionnaires ran for cover as Sonic knocked Mecha Sally into the controls, which sparked and caught fire on impact.

As those two were duking it out my restraints went slack and the mask was torn off my face. I gasped and breathed in as much air as I could.

I felt my eyes tear up as I heard an incredibly welcoming French accent "What were you thinking leaving zee group like zat!" Before he could say anything else I wrapped my arms around him and gave him the biggest hug I've ever given anyone in my life, I was that happy to see him.

"Uh I hate to break up the reunion but I think these belong to you!" I looked over to see Amy holding up my quiver.

I let go of Antoine and took my quiver "W-where's my bow?" I asked

She grabbed my hand and started to run "I couldn't find it, and we can't look for it now! Right we need to get out of here before reinforcements show up!"

Even though I'd grown fond of my juniper bow, I was in no mood to disagree with the freedom fighters, so I slung my quiver around me and ran as fast as my oxygen- deprived body would let me.

Eggman must have noticed us running away since I heard him order Mecha Sally to stop us. She left her fight with Sonic and appeared in front of Amy with her glowing blue arm blades out and took a deadly swing. I knew I couldn't let her get Amy, so without thinking I whipped out the only weapon I had left, one of my silver arrows.

I raced forward and blocked the first blow and then the second. But after blocking that one it left my waist area wide open for a third blow and she took the opportunity to slice my side leaving a deep wound.

I cried out in pain and fell to the ground as Amy rushed forward "You'll pay for that!" she hit Mecha Sally in the chest successfully getting her away from me. Sonic soon joined her and drove her back while Antoine checked my wound.

I laid there and breathed heavily as he used some emergency bandages to patch it up. He leaned close to my ear and spoke clearly "Nicki your wound needs zee stitching, we're going to take you back to zee hospital okay." I cringed when I heard the word "hospital" but I weakly nodded my head.

I felt his arms slide under me and gently pick me up off the ground. Antoine yelled after Sonic "We need to be leaving now!"

"We're a little busy right now!" yelled sonic and Amy in union. I rolled my head over in their direction and saw that both of them were locked in combat with Mecha Sally and she didn't seem to be letting them get a single inch of headway.

I heard a creaking sound above them almost like an un-oiled swing set but a hundred times louder. I looked up to see a giant pipe that must have been knocked loose by their battle, and Mecha Sally was right under it. I raised my arm and felt the warm prickles in my palm once again, but as soon as my white light surrounded the pipe my wound seared with pain. I ignored it and focused all of my energy into the pipe until whatever bounds were holing it up gave out.

My Arm went limp and fell just as the pipe did. Mecha Sally barely had time to react as the pipe landed on top of her with a huge crash. "GO!" I yelled with the last bit of strength I had.

Doing as I said all three of them rushed forward "Do you think she's alright under there?" asked Amy

"Probably!" responded Sonic "It takes a lot more than that to hurt Sally but that did buy us some time!"

The three of them ran through the halls until they stopped in front of a large hole in one of the walls that led directly to the outside. Sonic took me from Antoine, he spoke softly "Okay Nicks we're gonna jump okay."

Normally I would have freaked out if someone had told this to me but right now I really didn't care about anything so I just nodded. Sonic faintly smiled and jumped out of the Death Egg and into the open air. For a split second I could feel the wind rushing through my face and hair and just for a moment I forgot about my pain.

Then Sonic's feet hit something solid and I heard the engine off a plane it was the tornado! There were two more thumps on the plane that I guessed were Amy and Antoine. He set me down in the second seat "Tails we need to get to the hospital fast!"

"What happened in there?" asked Tails

"I'll tell ya later Just focus on flying right now!"

Antoine pulled out a device from his pocket "Oh yea! I almost forgot!" he flipped a switch and There was a loud bang that came from behind us and I looked back to see a part of the Death Egg was lit up with fire and smoke.

"Looks like the zee Swatbots forgot to take out the charges we set non?"

As words of congratulations spread through the plane all I could think about was how happy I was to get off of that nightmare. Words could not describe how grateful I was for all three of them. But I had a feeling that Naugus would not be happy to hear I came back to New Mobotropolis alive. I looked at the smoke protruding from the Death Egg and smiled slightly. But right now I didn't want to worry about that.

So for the rest of the flight back home, I just enjoyed the fact that I at least got _half_ of my mission done.


	25. Not So Sweet Dreams

My door slowly creaked open making a pillar of light in my almost pitch black room. My hand reached for the bedside where it grabbed on to the hilt of one of my knives. I brought the knife up and raised it just below eye level as a shadowy figure entered my room.

My heart was beating furiously in anticipation as the figure reached for the light switch. The lights switched "on" revealing Dr. Quack who was eyeing the room lazily until he saw my raised weapon. His eye widened and he raised his hand up defensively "Whoa there!" he said "Put the knife down missey I'm just here for your blood test!"

I sighed with relief but was still a bit hesitant to put my weapon down. Not that I though he was a threat or anything. It's just….. Blood tests involve needles. But never the less I put my knife back down on the bedside table and smiled sheepishly "Sorry Dr. Quack I thought you were ….well someone else.

Dr. Quack's face hardened and turned to a cherry-ish color "Sorry?!"he spat "You scared me half to death!"

I turned my head away stubbornly "Well you didn't look that scared…"

I tilted my head up to see him working at his table grumbling angrily "Well when you've been through war as long as I have you learn to expect these kinds of things! I don't know why I even let that dog talk me into letting you keep that thing here." He raised his voice "THIS IS A HOSPITAL FOR GOODNESS SAKES! Who do you think would attack you in a hospital?!"

I wanted to say "Naugus" but I decided I best keep that to myself.

"Devdas gave me that weapon just in case anyone would-"

My words caught in my throat when I saw Dr. Quack walk over with a syringe in hand. oblivious to my fear of needles he said "I swear you and that dog are just so…so paranoid!"

I cringed "Then I guess I shouldn't say anything about us questioning the nurse and checking my food for poison then should I?..."

The Doctor gave me a looked that practically said, _Are you kidding me? _But once he realized I was completely serious he snorted and burst out laughing.

I narrowed my eyes since I kind of took offense to this. I was right to be a little paranoid. I mean in the past three days I learned that Naugus somehow knew that I was going on that mission to the Death egg and practically sentenced me to a fate worse than death by telling Eggman to legionize me while I was there. And not to mention when he greeted us when we got back to the city he didn't look at all pleased to see I was still in one piece.

"Forget paranoid!" laughed Dr. Quack "You and that dog are downright insane!"

"Shut it!" I yelled "If you'd gone through what I've been through in the past few months you would be taking precautions too!"

His laugh faded away except for a small smirk, and his eye drooped lazily "Yes, yes I know quite well what you've been through, and you should really learn how to tell when someone's kidding around with you."

"Yeah! Well… You should stop being so hard to read!"

He chuckled a little and turned on his heel and headed to the door. "Wait!" I yelled "Didn't you need to take a blood sample?"

The only response I got was him waving a crimson colored test tube almost teasingly over his shoulder as he walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. I stared at the door in confusion until I finally looked down at my hand to see that it was already bandaged and had a slight throb to it that I hadn't noticed until just now.

I narrowed my eyes but smirked. _That had to be the best doctor in all of Mobius…_

That night I dreamt I was on the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky. I was floating lazily in a crystal clear ocean while Nadi-La was building a sand castle on the empty shoreline. She wore a modest red full body swimsuit that had pink frills along the neckline and pink flip- flops that were covered with sand. She was eyeing her work critically like one of her calculations was messed up on her blueprints for making a sandcastles.

I laughed and started to swim over to join her until I felt a small playful tug on my leg. I swung my head around to see Devdas's head bobbing right above the water with his wet, black hair covering his eyes and a mischievous smile on his face. Before I could do anything he swam around me and went deeper into the ocean. I tried to follow him but for some reason I couldn't move my legs.

I struggled to move but the ocean seemed to put pressure on all of my limbs until they were immobile. I looked out to the distance but Devdas was no longer there. I looked to the shoreline and Nadi-La wasn't there either.

The ocean turned inky black and the waves started to get higher and higher until one finally overtook me. I panicked as I sunk below the ocean's surface unable to move and struggling for breath. My lungs burned and everything around me went black…

My eyes snapped open. Out of instinct I tried to gasp for breath but something was covering my mouth. I breathed from my nose, thankfully that wasn't covered and I started to breath from there until I looked up and lost my breath once again. Looming above me was an ugly face with elfish features with a white beard and yellowish sharpened teeth that were smiling down at me.

"Well welcome back Nicki" said Naugus "I hope you enjoyed your stay in New Mobotropolis because one way or another it's coming to an end."

My eyes widened as I tried to move my body but it was frozen just like in my dream.

"W-what kind of monster attacks someone while there down?" I hissed

He brought his metal claw up to his chest "What? Me? Oh no no no no no! You see it is my associate who will be doing all the work."

I looked to the side to see a blue cloaked figure. The figure raised his hands up to his hood and brought it down. My eyes must have been popping out of my head with how wide they were.

The face that was under that hood was a golden cat who had a scar going down his eye. He smiled "You really should have just stayed up on the Death Egg" mocked Benedict.


	26. The Pendents Curse:Part 1

I watched Benedict, my eyes wide with disbelief. "Benedict, what... what are you doing here?"

He let out a sickeningly, gentle laugh "Isn't it obvious Nicki?" he chided "I'm here to do service for the king."

"The king!?" I spat looking to Naugus who was still standing at my bedside "What did you do to him?" I hissed

Naugus laughed, making me wince thinking about how much his laugh sounded like sharpening knives. "Foolish girl!" he said looming over me "Benedict was never on your side to begin with! Once Rotor resigned from "The Council of Acorn" I saw that as a perfect opportunity to put one of my own men in the government! And sure enough a few days later you and your pathetic little team come in with your request. I saw that as a perfect opportunity to rid myself of a thorn in my side. You see I told Benedict to approve your request, I told him to send you on a mission to the Death Egg. But unfortunately you came back... With only minor injuries." he said while looking at my side with the stitches in it, a smile appeared on his ugly face. "But it appears that overnight, while Nicki, was recovering she mysteriously disappeared, and me being in my quarters, all night, was none the wiser..."

If I weren't frozen at the moment I would have jumped right out of my bed and clawed his eyes out. But instead I just stared at him icily and hissed "You wouldn't dare! All this because I wouldnt join your stupid team!?"

Naugus stood upright "I can't have you running around the city and ruining my plans. A power like yours should not be allowed to exist!"

I struggled against my invisible bonds as his words rang in my head "A power like yours shouldn't be allowed to exist..." Who was he to say I could exist or not? Ha! Naugus may be a powerful wizard but even I knew that meant he was...

I widened my eyes in shock and turned my head to face him "You're scared of me aren't you!"

Naugus looked taken aback and his stupid grin faded away "ME, AFRAID OF YOU! I could do anything to you with just a single thought!" he hissed.

"Then why haven't you been able to get rid of me yet huh? What a little girl too much for you?" I hissed back.

"You insolent little-" he began, but suddenly stopped. His eyes became distant and unfocused and he started muttering to himself "I am not...Shut up you-...you have no power!"

At first I didn't know what was wrong with him but suddenly I started to hear things small voices. Not words exactly but more like hissing, a lot of them. Before I could even piece together what was going on, Naugus let out an anguished cry and small claws burst from his sides and from his metal claw and he doubled over moaning.

"M-master" Benedict ran over to Naugus' side but stopped when Naugus put up his claw to stop him.

"I-I'm going back to my quarters." he stuttered "You stay here and finish the job. I expect a full report when you get back." With that he limped out of the room closing the door. Leaving Benedict and I alone.

Benedict smiled and strode over to the side of my bed his eyes gleaming menacingly. "Hello again Nicki..." I didn't answer, I only glared at him. He looked down at my injured side reached over, and pressed his fingers to it, making me wince in pain. "It really is a shame." he continued "If you would have joined our team all of this would have never happened."

"I don't regret my decision." I said "I stick by what said before."

Benedict laughed "Of course! And If I recall what Master told me, you said that you would rather die than join our team.." in one fluid motion he grabbed my arm with one hand, and reached into his robe with another. He brought out a syringe with yellow liquid inside "Looks like you're about to get your wish."

My eyes widened and shock spread throughout my body. No... this can't be happening!

"Say goodbye Nicki!" he yelled as he brought the needle down fast in a stabbing motion."

I heard the door burst open I looked over then I saw him... My black furred guardian angel. Devdas grabbed Benedict's arm and forced him against a wall. He brought his fist back and punched him in his straight in his jaw yelling "GOODBYE!"

The force of his punch made Benedict drop the syringe, and it shattered on the floor. Benedict looked shocked at first but smiled and sucked in a deep breath. Sensing something big was coming I called out to Devdas but he was already one step ahead of me, and jumped back just as Benedict blew red hot fire from his mouth, hitting where Devdas used to be.

When the flames cleared I saw Devdas standing there unharmed, his usually kind eyes now red with rage. If anyone else saw Devdas right now they would have ran for cover but Benedict only laughed and strode over to the door "Quite impressive." he mused "But a mortal such as yourself cannot defeat a Ixis wizard!" He grabbed the doorknob and it melted halfway before he let go and charged at Devdas his sword out.

Devdas dodged every slash and flame Benedict sent up forever at him. I knew he was fast but he couldn't keep that up forever considering that he only had the space of a hospital room.

I watched those two in their deadly dance for what seemed like hours until a female voice spoke in my head.

_What are you doing?!_

I jumped at the sudden intrusion, but stuff like voices in your head were starting to become not to big of a surprise for me. Kind of sad really.

_He is making the perfect diversion for you! Quickly dispel Naugus' power!  
><em>  
>Reluctantly I closed my eyes and thought back<em>Okay hold on a sec! Who the hell are you, and why do you keep on giving me advice? And how the heck am I supposed to dispel Naugus' power? I don't suppose you come with an owners manual?<em>

All was silent and all I could hear was the sounds of battle around me until the voice broke back in.

_Use light to dispel the darkness..._

I sighed and here I thought Dimitri sounded cryptic...

* * *

><p>As Nicki contemplated a way to break free a fierce battle waged on around her. Devdas and Benedict locked in a stalemate unable to land a blow on each other. Benedict able to keep Devdas at a distance with his longsword and flame magic, while Devdas was able to evade any attack Benedict sent at him.<p>

But that pattern was s broken when Devdas backed into a wall while evading a pillar of flame. Seeing the perfect opportunity Benedict lunged at him with his blade. Before the blade made contact the Devdas quickly sidestepped and rolled out of the way as the blade impaled the wall where he was once standing.

Benedict tugged at his sword an chuckled softly "Well, it seems neither of you are going to die so easily." He remarked ripping his blade from the wall. The cat turned around to see the young dog standing defensively in from of his master "But what I really find confusing is your attachment to that girl. Tell me why do you waste your time on such a worthless overlander?"  
>Just as he predicted the dog lunged at him with rage. But this time Benedict was ready for him. He quickly ducked avoiding Devdas' razor sharp claws and raised his hand up catching the dog by his chest fur. He then used all his power to slam the dog into the wall.<p>

To his satisfaction the dog cried out in pain, but before Devdas could even counter the cat pressed his blade to his neck and forced him back into the wall. The cat chuckled and leaned in close to Devdas' ear "You never stood a chance **boy**. Not because you are weak, not because you are stupid enough to go up against a superior being, you never stood a chance because you fight for an overlander." Devdas stopped struggling and was silent for a moment "She thinks of you as her slave, she would sooner use you as a shield than take the blow herself, Even now she sleeps as you take your final breaths, so why? Why do you feel so obligated to protect such a worthless being?"

Devdas didn't speak a word, and Benedict grinning with satisfaction started to press the blade into the dogs neck Then he felt a sharp pain in his ribs and heard a loud crack that made him scream with pain. He looked down to see the dog smirking with his foot in Benedicts ribcage. To follow his kick Devdas grabbed Benedicts shoulders and slammed him to to ground making sure the cats head hit the ground with a loud crack.

Devdas knelt on top of him and waited for him to open his eyes, and when the cat did Devdas leaned down and hissed "Because she would never back down from a challenge, she thinks of me as her equal! Shes strong, brave, selfless, kind, ..._beautiful_...and... I love her!"


	27. The Pendents Curse: Part 2

Despite the Dizziness in the cats head he he laughed and kicked Devdas straight in the stomach. The dog backed off, winded, and clutching his stomach, but he still glared at Benedict icily.

Benedict watched Devdas with amusement in his eyes "Very interesting answer boy!" mused the cat "I guess I can do you the favor of sending you both to your graves then!" He angled his sword and lunged at Devdas, who stood ready for him.

Then in a flash of white and sparks, something came between the two warriors. Devdas's eyes widened "Nicki!"  
>Nickis knife was held firm against Benedicts sword each struggling to overcome each other. She looked over her shoulder at Devdas and gave him a smile "Sup?" <p>

Her whole body was glowing a soft shade of white, almost like she bathed in the moonlight. However, it quickly died down and disappeared, but Nicki kept on smiling and looked to the awestruck Benedict right across from her. "H-how are you free, Naugus cursed you himself!" 

Nicki pushed against Benedicts blade with her knife causing even more sparks to emerge from between them. "Yeah well good ol Naugus isn't here to sustain curse. So I was able to dispel the darkness with my" she smiled to herself "...Light." 

Benedicts eyes narrowed with anger and he pressed harder on Nicki's blade "You little nothing!" He hissed "I'll end you!" 

Devdas came in between the two and angled his fist to hit the cats jaw "We'll see about that!" he yelled. Benedict jumped back just avoiding the dogs attack. As soon as, he regained his footing Benedict sucked in a breath and blew a monstrous amount of flame at the partners. Devdas and Nicki both hit the ground as the flames soared over their heads. When the light faded, Nicki looked up in horror to see the room in flames. 

The fire alarms started to blair as two feet appeared in front of her and she slowly looked up to see Benedict standing over her. He smiled and swung his sword downwards. Nicki raised her knife and made contact with the sword. Her lungs burned from smoke and her eyes stung but she forced herself up despite Benedicts attempts to keep her down "Where's Devdas?" she hissed. 

Benedict shrugged and smiled "Probably burned to death..." 

Nicki growled and pressed her hand to the cats stomach. She smirked as light started pouring from her palm. Benedict barely had enough time to figure out what was going on until there was a loud bang and a bust of light that threw him up against the wall on the other side of the room. 

Nicki walked over to him coughing. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him in the air "Y-you've gone too far" she choked "The fires going to spread, innocent mobians are going to get hurt! 

"Not my problem." whispered Benedict 

Nicki's grip on the cat tightened "Put it out NOW!" 

Benedict kicked Nicki in the stomach and she flew backwards until somthing caught her and fell to the ground. Nicki looked behind her to see Devdas smirking with his arms around her protectively, but weakly "You're o-okay!" he coughed 

Nicki smiled but it immediately disappeared when the point of Benedicts sword was at her throat, the two of them didn't dare to move as Benedicts smile returned"Its been fun Nicki but Naugus' word is law and..." 

He was suddenly interrupted by the banging on the door and urgent voices outside. "Nicki?... Nicki! What's going on in there."

Nicki smiled, it sounded like there was a whole group of doctors out there. Her smile grew as she looked up at a surprised Benedict. "You know if they see you you'll lose your seat and become a criminal." They banged at the door so hard the hinges started to come off "So what are you going to do now?" 

The cat looked down at Nicki and rage filled his eye, even his blinded one seemed to turn red. "This is not the end!" he said as he slid his sword under the chain of Nicki's pendent. "But you must know that I never leave empty handed." In one fluid motion he jerked his sword upward and ripped the pendent off of Nicki's neck. He caught it in mid-air and ran to the window. 

Nicki twisted in Devdas' arms and screamed "NO!" she tried to break free but the dog had a firm grip on her. "Its not worth it! Let him go we'll get it back later!" he screamed. 

Nicki watched in horror as the cat snapped the pendant around his own neck and ran toward the window. He was only a few feet away when his eyes widened in shock as he looked down at the pendent, which had now tightened itself around the theifs neck. Its gold exterior started to turn black. 

Devdas' eyes widened and he threw himself over a horrified Nicki as the room filled with light and the screams of Benedict. 

Then everything was quiet. Nicki looked up and around the room. The flames were gone and everything was charred. The door bust open and a team of doctors filled the room "WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE!" One of them screamed. 

Devdas let go of Nicki but still kept his arm around her for support. As Nicki's eyes scanned the room she saw a gold glint on the ground. She crawled over to it and picked it up, it was her pendent looking like it normally did. 

She gazed at it in shock as Devdas crawled up next to her, and Nicki looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Benedict stole this didn't he? W-what happened to him?"  
>Devdas sighed and looked at Nicki, his brown eyes darkened "The pendent happened to him" said Devdas sadly "He's gone Nicki..." <p>

A few days later at dusk. 

A bandaged hand ran along the stone wall that bordered New Mobotropolis. The figure had walked around the the whole perimeter of the city but no virtual lynx came out to intercept him. The dark figure laughed, the rumors he had heard were true. 

Those diluted mobians exiled one of their strongest sources of protection. That only made his mission easier! He chuckled as he threw out a warp ring in front of him. The gold ring grew until it was big enough for someone to step through. One by one six figures walked out of the warp ring and stood in front of the white echidna. 

The green hedgehog looked up at the city and let out a loud whistle "So this is New Mobotropolis! Gotta admit Sonic has some sweet digs!" 

Fiona sighed "Now is not the time to be complementing the enemys city." she said "Now is time to be reviewing our plan." 

Scourge lowered his shades to cover his eyes "What's there to review Fi? We go in, cause some havoc grab the girl, get out.. Simple!" 

Lightning grunted in annoyance "I hate to say this but that was our exact same plan last time and look how that ended." 

"What are you talking about?" yelled Scourge "We caught her didn't we?" 

Fiona elbowed the hedgehog "Yes we did. But this time she has the freedom fighters and Chaotix behind her! Not to mention those freaky, weirdo powers of hers." 

Fiona's words froze in her throat as the Doctor began to speak "The chaotix will be of no problem." he smiled "An anonymous source reported suspicious activity around the master emerald so they are busy investigating that. As for the freedom fighters, I say we divide and conquer. From the reports I've been given, I've read that their team is dissolving quite nicely lately. So distracting them should be easy. As for the girl, unlike last time you are allowed to inflict as much injuries as necessary as long as shes alive.." 

Scourge did a fist pump "Awww yeah, payback baby!" 

Flying tilted his head at and odd angel "Gonna catch the girly swirly pearly he he he he!" 

The rest of the team nodded in understanding. The Doctor smiled once again "Very good, theres only one more thing left to do..." He sat down and closed his eyes. Focusing his chaos powers inside Mobotropolis. 


	28. The Beggining Of the End

A few days later I sat alone at a bench in New Mobotropolis park. It was late in the afternoon with a clear sky and a slight breeze, which felt good on my burns that were almost healed at this point. As for my side it still had stitches in it and stung when I moved in certain directions but it was manageable. Besides, judging by the rate I was healing I would have them out by tomorrow.

I sighed and looked at the time on my phone. I smirked and put it away. "...Three, Two, One."

"Hello, Nicki..." said a soft voice.  
>I rolled my head to the side and smiled when I saw the pale pink face I knew so well. "Hey, Nadi-La!" I said "Did you figure anything out?"<p>

Nadi-La jumped up on the bench and made herself comfortable beside me. "Yes, I ran some tests like you suggested..."

I narrowed my eyes "And..."

"Well.." Nadi- La's dull eyes suddenly became distant, then finally she seemed to return to reality "Would you like to take a walk?" she said in a sweet voice.

I sighed, knowing what that meant... We were being watched... I stood up and nodded letting Nadi-La take the lead. A few moments later when we were pretty well out of the park I was about to ask Nadi- La who it was, but she was already two steps ahead of me.

"A curious bystander" she said emotionlessly "I didn't think we should risk it..."

I looked at her questionably, she was looking at me the whole time how did she... I shook my head Focus Nicki, you're here for another reason. "S-so Nadi-La what did you figure out about the pendent?"

She sighed and started twirling her hair in her fingers "Devdas' theory was correct." she said "I ran a few tests with some plants, and then insects... The pendant will incinerate any living thing it encircles.

I involuntarily jumped back "What!" I brought my hand up to my neck and rubbed where my pendent had been worn for so long. "How am I still alive and why would it kill anyone who put it on?"

"The pendant was forged by the most powerful neowalker herself." she said "Not just anyone can wear it." her eyes darkened "As for you being able to wear it, you have a neowalkers blood flowing through you, that could be keeping you safe... Or it is possible you may be like Aurora."

"WOAH!" I said suddenly "You're not suggesting that I'm a..." I laughed nervously "Oh come on Nadi- La I can't even use my chaos powers for more than ten minutes without passing out, and I'm not even mobian!"

Nadi-La's face didn't waver, she just stared up at me emotionlessly for a few seconds until she reached in her pocket and pulled out the gold pendent that shimmered in the sun. "You can have this back now if you like."

I sighed and reached for it. Then suddenly I saw it again. The pendent turning as black as coal and tightening itself around Benedicts neck followed by the flash of blinding light. I shook my head and pushed it back to Nadi- La.

"Keep it." I muttered "I know there's a lot more you can discover about this thing. Do me a favor and figure out as much as possible, okay?"

Nadi-La looked at me with a concerned expression "Nicki are you sure? You already let me have your pretty chaos emerald... this too?

I walked ahead "Yeah, besides its in better hands with you.." I didn't know if I was telling her that, or telling myself that. I mean, I used to wear the pendant without worrying about its magical properties, but now... I sighed and walked ahead.

"It is possible though." said Nadi-La catching up to me

"What's possible?" I said curiously.

"My Neowalker theory."

I knelt down and put my hand on her shoulder "Nadi-La I will buy you ice cream right now if you please just drop the subject." I said containing my voice.

Her eyes seemed to light up and she nodded eagerly I chuckled as I ruffled her hair and stood back up. I started off, but mid stride I felt Nadi-La take hold of my hand and walk beside me. I looked down at her and smiled. No matter how troubling her past was or no matter how much she was experimented on I knew that Nadi-La was still just a kid, and so was I. We both depended on each other to survive in this messed up world. I chuckled to myself, I never once thought that I would have and echidna, brainiac, little sister. But, I kind of liked it this way.

* * *

><p>Less than an hour later Nadi-La and I were sitting outside an ice-cream parlor along the streets of New Mobotropolis eating bowls of ice-cream. Her vanilla, and my double fudge with chocolate sprinkles, smothered in fudge, and more sprinkles... I never really won the award for healthiest eater, but hey thats what they get for saying "Choose as many toppings as you like!" and thats just what I did!<p>

Nadi-La laughed as she saw me desperately trying to eat the ice cream dripping from the sides of my glass bowl as it melted. Which, did result in a major case of brain freeze. After my headache was gone I grabbed my spoon and was ready to take on the sundae again until I heard a loud crack.

I immediately wiped my head in both directions but nothing seemed wrong. My eyes lowered to the glass bowl where I saw a long jagged crack going through the center of it. I lightly touched the center of the bowl. What just happened? I thought .Was this some sort of omen?

Nadi-La's voice broke through my thoughts "Nicki you have that look again, is there somthing wrong?"

I looked at her with a worried expression, she frowned and grabbed the bowls from the table, to give them back to the manager. I let my head fall into my hands, looks like my little happy moment was coming to an end. And little did I know that my day was going to get a whole lot worse.

* * *

><p>After I dropped Nadi-La off back at Freedom HQ I took a little walk to clear my thoughts. But it seemed my thoughts refused to get cleared up. I had this constant feeling of unease. I didn't know if it was the feeling of vulnerability that came with not wearing my pendent,or if it was that everything was just too calm lately. I looked out to the rose red dusk sky in the distance and not a single death egg or enemy in sight.<p>

You may think that's a good thing but in this world calm means either you're in a coma, or something big is coming. And I hated that thought especially since Naugus wanted me dead, Eggman wanted to turn me into a robot, and don't even get me started on Dr. Finitevus...

"Nicki!" said an all too familiar silky voice. I turned around me to see Devdas running toward me with a pile of books in his hands. Once he got closer I noticed that he still had some bandages on his arms, which got burned while fighting Benedict. A small wave of guilt washed over me since I kinda felt like it was my fault that happened to him in the first place. But I forced a smile when he finally came to my side.

"Hey Dev! What are all those books for?"

"Just some English lessons." he said proudly "I already know how to write out two sentences on my own!"

I chuckled "Oh really! And What would they be?"

"The first one is "Naugus should get hit by a bus." he said matter of factly

"I second that." I muttered under my breath "And what's the other one?"

He gave me a warm smile "Thats my little secret." he said

I grabbed his arm "Oh come on you can tell me!" He winced and I looked down to see that I was grabbing one of his bandaged burns. I quickly removed my hand and backed up "Oh my gosh Devdas I'm so sorry! Did it hurt?"

"Not a bit." he said with a sweet smile. I sighed with relief and we started to walk back to HQ . We were both silent until Devdas finally spoke up "So about the fight with Benedict... Do you remember anything that happened while you were out?"

"No." I said truthfully "I was too busy dispelling Naugus' magic that I couldn't focus on anything but that."

"Oh.." Devdas was silent for a while until he finally stopped. Why was he acting so weird? "Nicki I have to tell you something!" he said suddenly.

I stepped back a bit "What's up Dev?"

He took a deep slow breath and stepped forward "Nicki I-"

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything" said a snide voice.

"My eyes widened with Fear and I saw Devdas' calm sweet face twist into one of malice.

"Everything seemed to go in slow motion as I turned my head to face the figure walking out from behind a tree.

Scourge smiled "Hey there, Bright Eyes..."


	29. Escape

"Scourge..." I said softly my eyes wide. Devdas started growling next to me but we didn't dare move.  
>Scourge grinned "Thats my name kid." he said while looking me over. He whistled loudly "Well you look different since I last saw ya... And here I thought you couldn't get any uglier."Devdas took a quick step forward but I put my hand in front of him making look at me with surprise.<p>

"Enough of that!" I said my heart pounding "What do you want Scourge?"

Scourge sighed and walked casually around us keeping a fair distance "Well you see good ol' Dr. Spokey von evil sent me. He says he wants me to take ya back whether you come willingly..." He lowered his crimson shades and his eyes seemed to burn into me "Or whether I have to drag you back kicking and screaming." 

I heard a heavy thump come from beside me and saw Devdas's books littered on the ground. His face was twisted with anger and his fists were clenched so hard they were shaking "Like hell you will!" he hissed "You keep your filthy hands off her!" 

Scourge frowned and placed his sunglasses back on his forehead as he eyed Devdas until a look of realization spread over his face "Ahhh, I know you, you're that mutt right? Well the doc was right, you did change." He frowned "But I can't let you stop me. What's going on has nothing to do with you, so I suggest you go home and leave the girl to me." 

"No way!" hissed Devdas as he started to run at the green hedgehog. I quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him back with great difficulty. "Don't be stupid! "I yelled .I knew that something about this wasn't right "What's the deal Scourge?" I said suspiciously "You're just show up in the enemys city alone and expect to capture me? What if I were to call the freedom fighters?"  
>He grinned "Funny thing about the freedom fighters..." <p>

The ground shook and then there was a loud explosion on the other side of the city I whipped my head around to see smoke protruding from the council building. I could barely register what was going on, because as soon as I turned around Scourge was at my already at my side his arm wrapped around my waist. My breath caught in my throat too stunned to move. 

"...They're gonna be a little busy." he grinned at me maliciously "Listen babe you're goin back to Dr. F one way or another, cause this time I can break every bone in your body as long as you're alive." 

I heard Devdas's snarl come from behind us. Scourge looked over his shoulder and smirked as he brought his fist up and punched me straight in my stomach. I gagged and fell to my knees as Scourge backed off laughing. 

Devdas quickly ran to my side "Nicki!"  
>I grabbed onto his shoulder for support and clutched my stomach. I looked at Scourge with pure hatred as chaos energy seeped from both of my hands. Once Scourge noticed his smile disappeared and he backed away a few steps, but quickly recomposed himself. <p>

"You honestly think your creepy voodoo will scare me?" he laughed "I know you're limited to how much you use, and even that isn't enough to beat me!" 

I smirked at Devdas and he returned it telling me we were both thinking the same thing "You're right." I said confidently "But whoever said that I was going to attack you with it?" Scourge barely had time to react as I threw a sphere of light at the ground where it blew up with a blinding flash of white and smoke. 

Devdas and I quickly grabbed hands and ran into the the woods with Scourge screaming after us. He may have been fast but in the woods we were able to evade him easily and hide behind a boulder without him noticing us. 

We both sat there panting trying to catch our breath. "I-i'm sorry." panted Devdas  
>"For what?" I answered <p>

"When Scourge grabbed you I should have acted... But I just stood there" 

"Dev now is not the time to be apologizing for things that were clearly not your fault." I said sternly "Now is the time to look for allies or someone who will help us!" 

He sniffed the air and his face became serious "Nicki I'm also sorry for something else..."  
>I sighed "What?" <p>

"This!" He grabbed my arm and raised it in the air pressing his fingers on a place on my wrist. My palm involuntarily glowed and released a sphere of chaos energy into the sky where it exploded like a firework, that no one would be able to miss. 

I sat there unable to make sense of what just happened. I ripped my arm away from him and screamed "What the hell did you just do!? Are you insane!?" 

"Listen Nicki I can ex-" 

Suddenly the boulder we were hiding blew up with such force it sent us and rubble flying backward. Where the strong boulder stood was now Scourge. Devdas and I backed up "You two are making this too easy!" he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. 

I pointed at Devdas "He made me do it..." 

Scourge cocked eyebrow at Devdas, who just stood there silently with a hint of a smile on his face. Scourge took a step forward but as soon as he was about to take another one a miniature arrow with a lit fuse struck the ground near his feet. Scourge watched it surprised while Devdas and I booked it the other way. A few seconds later there was a explosion behind us that tossed both of us forward. 

Devdas and I both maintained our balance and turned around to see the white cloud the explosion left behind. We heard the anguished cries of Scourge, and saw him run out of the cloud in the complete opposite direction. "What is that stuff?" 

Devdas covered his nose "It reeks!" but he managed a smile and looked behind me "Thanks Nadi-La!" 

"Your welcome!" said a soft voice "I looked behind me and saw Nadi-La reloading a mini bow and arrow on her arm. Just like the one Geoffrey used. "Thats tear gas!" she said proudly "Any smart mobian would go and wash that out of their eyes before they went blind." 

"So you bought us some time." I said thankfully "But how did you find-" Suddenly something clicked, and I turned to Devdas "The flair..." 

He shrugged "When we were by the boulder I caught her scent and needed to lead her in the right direction. I couldn't explain at the moment since Scourge would have found us within seconds." He smiled "Still think I'm insane?" 

I put my hands on my hips and glared at him "Yes!" 

Nadi-La came between us with a worried look "We do not have time for your bickering!" She chided "Scourge may be disabled but not for long, and we still have the rest of the Destructix to worry about!" 

Dev and I glared at each other for a moment, but non vocally put our differences aside. "So I'm guessing you have a plan?" said Devdas 

Nadi-la nodded and drew a circle in the dirt and drew four points on each end. Devdas and I leaned in closer "This represents New Mobotropolis." she said "The four points are the four main exits North, East, South, and West." She circled the East Exit "Right now we're closest to the Eastern gate. So our best bet is leaving the city through there and making our way to the Meracian forest and hide there. 

I sucked in a breath "There's a lot of barren land between here and Meracia..." 

"We have to try" said Devdas somberly "Besides once we find cover everything will be fine." 

"But couldn't we just take a plane?" Just then we heard the sound of scraping metal and saw two huge metal shells erupted from either side of the city and slam together, making the whole city a dome and leaving us in total darkness until artificial light turned on. 

"Does that answer your question?" grumbled Devdas. 

"They're trying to lock us in." added Nadi-La 

"Why would they do this?!" I yelled "The threat is on the inside, not the outside!" 

"Remember..." said Devdas "They have someone working for them inside the city." 

"This day just keeps getting better." I mumbled 

"How is this good?" remarked Nadi-La 

"It's a figure of- Nevermind." I shook my head. "C'mon let's go we don't have any time to lose!" I ran forward with both of them at my heels. Finitevus was back, and the chase was on! 


	30. Nadi- La

Nadi-La, Devdas and I ran through the suspiciously empty streets with haste, hearing nothing but the sounds of a battle on the other end of the city and our own footsteps. I desperately wanted tell the freedom fighters that whoever they were fighting was just distracting them, but I had no way of doing that. It frustrated me more than anyone would ever know. Knowing that I was not fighting with them, and was running to the nearest exit with my two friends acting as my escorts. The thought, just disgusted me. 

I needed to get my mind off this. I slowed down so I could meet Nadi-La who was falling behind "Nadi-La do you think Scourge caught up to the rest of the Destructix and and told them what happened? " I received no answer, I tried asking again but she just didn't seem to hear me."  
>I stopped when she suddenly halted "Nadi-La!" I snapped. Her pale pink hair was covering some of her face but under it I saw that her brow was furrowed with concentration and her face was twisted into what looked like pain. <p>

I was about to snap at her again until she finally answered but not the way I hoped she would "His thoughts..." she said softly "They're confused, hurt ...,Malicious..." 

Now, I was starting to get worried "Nadi-la!" 

That seemed to snap her back into reality, but my relief was short lived when she turned to me "We're being followed!" 

My eyes widened as I turned to Devdas who was already on the other side side of me. He closed his eyes and his ears flicked back and forth, he opened his eyes and leaned down to my ear. "Behind the bushes..." 

I nodded with understanding as I casually got up and flipped my hair, then with all the speed I could summon I side kicked aiming for the bushes releasing a sphere of chaos energy. 

Almost immediately the sphere hit the bushes and released a blast of energy. We stood there for a moment waiting for the dust to clear, when three throwing knifes sailed by my shoulder. The fourth one I quickly deflected with my own knife. A brown Lynx jumped out of the dust and aimed a kick at my chest. I quickly sidestepped just dodging him, as Devdas ran up and slashed at his back. Lightning dodged him and took a swing at him as Devdas did the same. They both caught each others punches and began a struggle to see who could over power who. 

Before I could do anything a dart punctured the ground between them. Lightnings eyes widened as he pushed Devdas away and the both ran for cover as the arrow exploded. As the cloud of smoke cleared I saw Nadi-La standing only a few yards away from Lightning. She calmly reloaded her wrist arrow and watched him emotionlessly "Your disconcerted..." she said softly. 

Lightning looked puzzled for a moment then his face hardened "What makes you think you know anything about me!" 

Nadi-la ignored him and aimed her arrow "Devdas, Nicki get out of here I'll keep him busy." 

"Are you crazy!" I yelled "You can't beat Lightning alone!" 

She didn't take her eyes off him "Maybe not, but I know I can definitely slow him down." I was about to retort but she spoke up once again "I know you're still not convinced Nicki, Devdas too but, you need to trust me... Everything will be okay." 

I tried to chastise her but Devdas grabbed my arm and dragged me into the trees despite my protests. 

"Get back here!" screamed Lightning running towards us. Nadi-La quickly ran in front of him and threw a few pellets on the ground. they all exploded and they were both enveloped in a cloud of smoke 

I never once looked away from the cloud until it was completely out of view. I clenched my fists, I was beyond worried about Nadi-La... but I had to trust her. I felt Devdas' warm fingers lace into mine. I looked over over at him and he smiled warmly. "She'll be fine. I know it. She's special." 

I smiled back at him and clenched my teeth "Kick his ass Nadi-La!" 


	31. Broken

The Lynx and Echidna clashed in the air quickly separating. The small echidna fired a dart at lynx as he landed. He deflected the arrow with a knife, and quickly advanced toward Nadi- La. Just as he was about to slash at her she sped around him with amazing agility and was a few yard away in the matter of seconds. One Nadi-La stopped she huffed with exertion but quickly reloaded her weapon.

Taking advantage of the momentary cease fire, Lightning lowered his guard and watched the child curiously "Give up." He said "Why do you even care about the overlander? Finitevus told us you were unable to comprehend, or show any kind of emotion. So, why are you fighting so hard just to help this kid?"

Nadi-La analyzed the question she was asked and set her face in an emotionless expression as she had done many times before. "He underestimates me…" she said softly "Finitevus may have modified me to the point where I was almost just a walking shell."

"Almost…" she repeated softly "You will find that I am more than capable of showing my true self to those who treat me like I'm not just an experiment. The small echidna smiled and puffed out her chest with pride.

Lightning smirked slightly "And here I thought you were too far gone." His face turned serious "Although I am surprised anyone is allowing you to live…" A sly smirk appeared on his face "You did tell the kid about that "one" experiment right?"

Nadi-La's face drained and dread seeped through her veins as she recalled horrible memories. "H-how do you know about that?" she demanded.

"You must know your enemy" retorted Lightning.

Nadi-La pointed an arrow at his chest "Nicki does not need to know about that. And why did "Father" need to tell you so much about me?"

Lightning shrugged "I don't know."

Nadi-La narrowed he eyes as an all too familiar whispering noise buzzed in her ear and started to form comprehendible sentences. "You're a LIAR." She hissed "Finitevus told you all that because he wanted you to have an advantage… So you could dispose of me!"

Lightning smirked "So, Finitevus wasn't lying, you really can read minds. Can you tell me anything else about me?" he said mockingly.

Taking his question literally Nadi-la gave him an annoyed glance and spoke "You originally didn't want to rejoin the Destructix. You don't care if Finitevus destroys Mobius since you could always retreat to another zone, and your past will be erased, "she" will be erased. I belive her name is Conquering Storm?"

Lightning stood there for a moment stunned, but his face hardened and he balled his fists. "How dare you!"

Nadi-La watched him blankly "I do not fear you, and I will use every modification "father" gave me against you… against him! Nadi-La watched him for a moment more before pulling the trigger on her arrow.

* * *

><p>I leapt through the trees as Devdas scouted out the ground below. Neither one of us talked. It had already been about ten minutes since the city was put under lockdown, and as the seconds ticked by so was our chances of escaping.<p>

I eyed Devdas from a branch and leapt down. Once I landed my injured side stung but I did my best not to show I was in any pain as Devdas jumped back with shock. "Nicki! Wh-"he started."

"I need to talk to you." I said firmly

He walked forward "Can't it wait?" he said "We're kind of on the run from a dangerous mercenary group right now."

"But that's what I want to talk about." I said gesturing behind us "We haven't been disturbed since we left Nadi-La behind…. and the fact that we left Nadi-La behind!

"She wanted us to leave her behind, she said we could trust her." He sighed.

"It's not just that." I said "She's also been acting weird lately!"

"Nadi-La always acts weird." He said

"That's not my point!"

"Then what is?"

"I don't know!" I sighed with exasperation "I guess I'm just having second thoughts."

He sighed "Nicki your acting like a worry ward."

"Say's the guy who tests my food for poison." I growled

His muzzle turned a light shade of red, but he quickly shook it off "That's not the point! The point is Nadi-La is stronger than she looks."

"So is Lightning." I muttered

"Do you believe in Nadi-La or not!" he snapped

I jumped back in surprise since Devdas had never used that tone with me before "Y-yes" I stuttered.

"Then don't doubt her…." He said softly then turned away walking forward.

I walked beside him in silence, desperately searching for something to change the subject until something finally came to me "You were about to tell me something before Scourge interrupted you... What was it?"

Devdas stopped and kept his head down considering my question "I can't say it right now…" he said pressing forward once again.

I lightly grabbed his arm slightly frustrated "Why not?"

He slowly removed my hand from his arm and sandwiched it between his own hands watching it sadly "Because I have my priority's straight…"

I stood there confused with his response as he reluctantly let go of my hand. He only started off a few steps before his ears perked up and he sniffed the air nervously. Taking this as a bad sign I quickly darted my head around in all directions until I saw a small black dot, about the size of a potato, sailing above the trees coming right at us. Out of instinct Devdas and I ran in the opposite direction just before the object hit the ground.

When it did the forest ignited behind us in a fiery blaze and the shockwave threw us forward and into a clearing where I landed hard.

"A grenade" I coughed trying to get the air back in my lungs. I looked up and saw that we were in the park I always visited. I looked back and saw Devdas getting up just as I was. Relief spread through me, and I quickly forced myself to my knees knowing whoever threw that grenade would not be too far behind. Then, as if confirming my fears a huge foot stomped in front of me.

My eyes widened and I slowly looked up to see a giant ape with a blue hawk perched on his shoulder. Suddenly, his huge hand reached down to grab me but with a sudden rush of adrenalin I sprung back and put space between us. Every ache or pain in my body seemed minor now.

Devdas was quickly at my side growling, holding his shoulder awkwardly. I looked over the scene in front of me and assessed my situation.

First off, Devdas and I were alive (good thing). But Devdas caught the worst of the blast, and by the looks of it, he dislocated his shoulder (bad thing). The East gate was in sight (good thing) but an ape on steroids and a hunting obsessed hawk were in our way (Ah, yea… a bad thing!)

I sighed, _okay first things first… _I knelt down beside Devdas and cringed when I saw the bone was abnormally positioned "I have to put it back in place…" I said lightly.

Devdas nodded, and tensed up when I brought both of my hands to his shoulder and started to lightly massage it with my thumbs. Believe it or not I've dealt with dislocated/broken bones before. At times, back on earth I would fall out of a tree, or hurt myself on slippery rocks in streams. I know from experience that putting bones back into place was anything but fun, but it would hurt a lot less once it was…

I narrowed my eyes, and without warning I grabbed his shoulder and snapped it back into place. Devdas winced and growled softly but other than that he showed no more signs of pain. I moved away as he rolled his shoulder to test it out, he winced slightly but gave me the thumbs up anyway.

_Next thing on the agenda… _I turned to face the two members of the Destructix, who were ever-so-kind enough to not smash our faces in while I was treating Devdas. "Get out of the way!" I yelled.

Simian was the first to speak up "We can't do that." He said bluntly "Come quietly and no harm will come to you or your friend."

Devdas pushed past me and sneered "She's not going anywhere with you!"

"Quiet you insignificant little-"Predators eyes widened and a look of realization spead across his face ".. That fur color….. That scent!" an enraged look appeared on his face as he leapt from Simians shoulder "YOU!" he said pointing. "I'll make you pay for my humiliation!"

A sly smile appeared on Devdas' face "Hey there chew toy!" Predator growled with rage and flew at Devdas at full speed. I gasped as he made contact and sunk his talons into Devdas' arms, who yelled out in pain. In turn, Devdas kicked him off and slashed at him.

I was about to run over and help him but I figured out that I had problems of my own when I hear heavy footsteps barreling in my direction. I quickly sidestepped just avoiding a punch from Simian, which whistled by my ear. He aimed another punch at me but it sailed over my chest as I did a backbend to avoid it. As he brought his fist back I kicked my feet over, and once I was in a standing position I jumped back and landed in a crouch.

I narrowed my eyes at him "This will not be like last time!" I sneered

Simian smirked "Good."

I readied myself as he came running at me once again as he came closer I dashed around him and aimed a punch at a sensitive area between the ribs. As my fist made contact my wrist exploded with pain. Simian winced but brought his fist back hitting me right in the jaw. My head jerked backwards and splotches invaded my vision, however I quickly put my arms back and used the momentum to spring back away from him.

"Damn it!" I growled rubbing my jaw painfully "That stupid muscle is like armor! If I had my bow and arrows it could easily damage it, but for all I knew my bow was still on the Death Egg somewhere. Simian unpinned another one of his grenades and threw it over at me. My eyes widened, I only had one choice left_ It was time to switch tactics!_

I allowed some of my chaos energy to focus into my arms and ran at Simian as the grenade exploded behind me. I was fast, and not just because of the force of the explosion pushing me forward it was because of the chaos energy now, flowing freely in my body. I made it to the ape in seconds. I quickly avoided a punch which hit the ground instead. I put my hand in a spear position and hit one of the joints in his arm.

This time I go better results he clutched his arm painfully, and stared daggers at me as he aimed yet another one I dodged and hit his ribs once again. It seemed that every time I hit him he got more and more angry, but more and more reckless. I was able to pick apart his attack patterns and weakness quiet quickly. Where he was big and bulky, I was small and quick. He was also pretty clumsy often letting the brute force of his punch drag him forward.

For that moment I was strong, I was fast, I was powerful, I was…. very dizzy. Just as I was about to get another shot at his ribs I felt my whole body start to turn against me. I staggered backwards and quickly cut off the flow of chaos energy which was harder than normal to do. I groaned with pain and fatigue and my whole body seemed like it was overheating. Simian must have seen this as the perfect opportunity since he ran forward and punched me head on in the chest.

I yelled with pain as I felt the sheer force of the punch. I flew backward and landed hard on the ground. My whole body shook, at first I couldn't feel much pain due to the initial shock of it all. I struggled to get upright until I felt my chest throb painfully. I automatically knew that my ribs were broken, but the real question was how many were fractured? When I finally got myself upright my whole body wouldn't stop shaking. I grinded my teeth when I felt the fiery heat that my body was producing start focus in on my ribs.

I blinked a few times and my vision thankfully cleared, or at least clear enough to see Simian towering over me "No…." I muttered

His hand reached down "NO!" In a desperate attempt to stop him I grabbed the knife from my boot and jolted upwards slashing his hand, as I did my rib area exploded with pain and I fell back once again. Simian bellowed with agony and moved back.

"Devdas!" I screamed. He just dodged a diving slash from Predator when he heard me. His eyes narrowed and he ran over to us avoiding yet another slash from Predator. When he finally made it over he eyed me with horror. "Nicki! wha-" he stopped himself seeing that Simian was quickly recovering. He wasted no time sliding his hands under me and taking off into the forest.

A few steps in the trees he muttered "Hang in there Nicki."

I looked up into his determined face and frowned "Not making any promises."


	32. Words From The Heart

As Devdas and I sped through the woods I heard Simian and Predator barreling after us. Devdas was fast but, since he was burdened by my weight it was only a matter of time before they caught up. I felt my body start to cool down, and I used that as an opportunity to look around and see that there was a small, well-hidden overhang of to our side

"Over there!" I said pointing to the hiding place. He noticed and darted off to the side diving under the small structure. I quickly lay as flat as I could with the injury I had, my heart beating rapidly as I heard the duo rocketed by. Then there was silence, I quickly sat up and saw Devdas do the same.

"We won't lose them for long" I said

"Agreed" he murmured looking over me "You were hit... Would you mind if I checked where Simian got you?"

I nodded weakly and grabbed the ends of my shirt. I pulled my shirt up hesitantly and stopped right under the last of my ribs. My cheeks turned slightly pink as he eyed the bones intently. When he was finally done he sat back and let out a deep sigh, and announced "They already started healing."

My eyes widened "Really?" I yelled as I snapped forward to look, only to recoil with pain. Once the throbbing subsided I leaned forward slower, and looked over my shirt to see the murky yellow of healing bruises, and the ribs that were supposed to be broken were moved back into place. There was probably a thin layer of cartilage already surrounding them.

I mouthed "Amazing." only to be muted by the burning in my ribs returning. I snapped my shirt back down, and doubled forward clutching my chest. Devdas caught me by my shoulders.

"No, this is anything but amazing. No one should be able to heal this quickly not even you. It's not natural." I tilted my slightly. _It's not natural? _I've always been able to heal quickly, but then again I've never been able to heal _this_ quickly.

What's been going on with me? I couldn't control my powers and had even more trouble subduing them while I was fighting Simian, and now this? It's like my abilities were suddenly spiraling out of control. And every bit that was healing my ribs right now was being depleted by my energy reserves, making me weaker and weaker every moment. I bit my lip nervously as my mind frantically tried to find out the reason why. All this seemed to start when I gave Nadi-La my… Then it hit me, I reached up to my neck and rubbed an area between both of my collar bones. "My pendent…"

Devdas looked up at me "What?"

"My pendent!" I repeated "All of this started when I gave Nadi-La my pendent!"

"You did what with your pendent!" he said trying to keep his voice at a whisper "Why would you give one of your most valuable possessions over to someone else!"

"I don't know!" I said putting my hand up defensivly "I guess I was scared of it at the moment okay!?"

Devdas sighed "Judging by the control you had while the pendent was on, and how you are now, I'm guessing that pendent acted as some sort of repressor."

I waved him off "who knows what Aurora made that thing for! It's not like she tells me about much anyway. I felt the burning finally stop as felt my powers finally subsided back into me, daring me to use them once again. My voice softened "Besides what's done is done, and I can't go back to get it, so I suggest we use the time that we have to come up with a plan to get past with those two wack-jobs out there.

Devdas watched me silently for a while as and nodded sadly "Nicki may I see your vest?" he asked. I gave him a confused look but handed it over. He then gently brought it to my face, and wiped of the blood and sweat, he did the same to my arms and the back of my neck. No longer able to suppress my curiosity I finally asked him what he was doing. He slung the purple vest over his shoulder and watched me emotionlessly "The only reason Simian and Predator have not found us yet is because our scents are some-what covered her in this muddy hole." He looked around distastefully "But if I go out with this Predator will use the scents to pursue me. In other words they'll follow me away from here while you escape!"

"What!" I screeched unable to keep my voice down "Do you honestly expect me to just run away while you put your life in danger for me, _Again_!?

"Nicki please-"he started

I literally cut him off by sweeping my out in front of him "No!"

"Nicki please if I do this you'll be able too-"

"I'll be able to do what? Go on my merry way while you stay behind and fight the dangerous mercenaries? Forget it!"

"Nicki." said Devdas with growing aggravation in his voice "I won't fight them I'll just lead them on until-"

"Until what?" I sneered "Until they find you and beat you to smithereens" I frowned feeling bad for downplaying him like that, but at the moment I was willing to say anything to talk him out of this.

Devdas narrowed his eyes "They won't waste their time with me they've already been here long enough they know they need to hurry before back-up comes."

"Do you honestly think the Destructix will just let you go?" I said my voice quivering "Nadi-La too! They know you two are with me Finitevus probably knows too! One way or another they'll force the information out of you!" I shuttered thinking about how Finitevus would get information from someone. I would never forgive myself if that happened to either of them.

I squeezed my dirty stalking's until my knuckles turned white I snapped my head upwards looking at him in the eyes, down right yelling "Why Devdas?! Why do you always insist on throwing your life away for me!?"

I felt his arms wrap around my torso and pull me into a tight embrace "Because I can't lose you again!" he choked. His grip softened as he repeated himself in a lighter tone "Because I can't lose you again…."

I sat there my eyes wide with surprise "You can't what?"

He stayed still for a moment then continued with a heavy gulp "W-when Nadi-La and I broke into Finitevus' lab only to see he had already started his hex… I thought I lost you. And even though I may have been less rationalized than I am now… I felt great pain…. And I'll never forget what I saw." His grip tightened "That sick look of utmost delight on that madman's face, and you… you were so pale" His voice shook slightly" S-so so pale, it looked like he was draining all of your life away."

I sat there listening to him, to entranced by his words to do anything. The only thing that seemed to keep me in reality was small jolts of pain coming from my ribs, but I ignored those. Right at that moment I could feel every part of him. I felt the smallest tickle from the fur on his muzzle against my cheek. I felt his arms quivering slightly. I felt a mist coming from his eyes. The whole experience was so new, so weird I couldn't help but sit there and take in every single meaning to his embrace.

He continued "You can't imagine the joy I felt when you finally woke up after the Chaotix saved you. You were in pretty bad shape when you woke up none of us were sure you'd ever be the same" He laughed lightly "But there you were, perfectly fine stubbornness and all!... Then soon after that I changed to who I am now. I was able to do and feel things that I wasn't able to do or feel as a simple minded dog. I was able to talk and have someone listen and respond to me, I was able to plan and reason, and most of all I was able to feel emotions I had never felt before." I heard his voice turn dark once again "But with the ability to reason and rationalize, I was able to figure out that Finitevus wouldn't just let you go. I couldn't let that mad-man get close to you… not again!" He finally pulled away keeping his hands firmly on my shoulders his eyes boring into mine. "And I won't let him get near you again" he said softly "You are one of the most precious things in the world to me Nicki. And even though Lexi-Na vented to me about her secret life often, I always knew who….. and _what _you really are.

He pressed his forehead to mine lightly and we stayed like that for a moment. We broke apart when we heard far away yelling coming towards us. "They're back" I mumbled wearily.

I felt his hands clamp back onto my shoulders "Nicki head north! They know by now we were going east. I know you can make it! Don't stop for anything, and..." he smiled " I'll see you in Meracia!" With that, and before I could do anything to stop him he jumped out into the open running on only the crunchiest of leaves and even pretending he was yelling for me to keep up. Not even a minute passed until his footsteps faded away followed by another two sets.

I climbed out of the overhang and got to my feet shakily tears coming to my eyes "Please, please , please Devdas be careful!"

Both of my allies were gone now… I started to head northward. I knew I would see him again, but there was unease to me, wondering if the next time we met we would be friends… or enemy's.


	33. The Only Other Mobian

Twenty five minutes…

Twenty five minutes has passed since Scourge confronted me, and this whole thing started. So much has happened since then. Devdas and I ran from Scourge, only to be saved and team up with Nadi-La, who then left us to fight Lightning. Then, shortly after that Devdas and I were confronted by Simian and Predator. We both fought hard but… I got myself hurt, and Devdas volunteered himself to lure Simian and Predator away from me while I headed to the exit.

Here I am now traveling along the edge of the New Mobotropolis' perimeter trying my best to keep myself hidden, only to be betrayed by the persistent growls of my stomach. I sighed, It really hadn't been that long since I last ate, about four hours at most. But since my body was absorbing any energy I had to make up for that fight with Simian, all of the power that I may have gotten from my last meal was gone, leaving me hungry for about a half dozen of tacos. And I don't even like those things.

My stomach rumbled again, as I swerved to the left ramming my side off of a metal pole. The sudden jolt of pain sent a small shock wave to my brain making me suddenly much more alert than I was before. I shook my head, the way someone would to keep themselves awake, "Keep it together Nicki!" I told myself "Don't stop, and once you escape then you can have those disgusting tacos."

That put a small smile on my face and motivated me to keep moving forward toward my destination. Depite my bodys limitations.

* * *

><p>I looked to the North exit ominously, while hidden behind a wide tree trunk. I almost couldn't believe it. All that was left to do now was run through the clearing in front of me and blow the shielding off of each side of the door. I knew it was easier said than done especially with me in the condition I was in now. I knew I could do it though, even if my ability's wouldn't cooperate all I needed to do was get out of this city. And then I would be home free, and off to Meracia where I would hopefully see Devdas and Nad- La once again.<p>

With that thought still fresh in my brain I darted from my hiding spot and into the clearing. As I sprinted I couldn't help but be burdened by the thought that this was all too easy. Before I couldn't go a mile before some sort of intervention form one of the Destructix, now I was able to go about two without a problem. I wasn't buying it…. It was just too good to be true. I thought for a moment then came to a horrifying conclusion.

I quickened my pace and finally made it to the door placing both of my palms on either side of it mentally yelling at myself to "hurry up". Not because I was afraid the Destructix would show up again, oh no I knew very well that they were all "preoccupied" at the moment whether it was with the Freedom Fighters or my own team. No, it was because of the only mobian that was left, that shared their mission.

Light started to pour from my palms ,_the only other mobian that shared their mission, _I bit my lip lightly "Just where in the hell are you Finitevus?" I whispered to myself.

"Closer than you may think my dear…" said a chilling voice behind me.

My whole body froze and any chaos energy that I may have already summoned sunk back into the depths of oblivion. My arms fell to my sides as my hands balled into small fists. I heard my quickened heart, beat in my ears as I quickly turned on my heel to face the source of that voice. Then for the first time since he attempted to hex me, I saw the white echidna once again… Dr. Finitevus.

As always the pale echidna had his spectacles perched at the tip of his snout with bandages wrapped around his hands and feet, with his warp ring containers locked firmly around his limbs. His shadowy cape hung loosely from his shoulders and flowed downward like liquid only to be disturbed by a limp figure he held under his arm.

My eyes widened and rage built up inside of me as I saw the figure was an unconscious black dog with mangled black hair and a tattered white shirt. A slight smirk appeared Finitevus' face as his other hand emerged from the depths of cape, holding a thin purple vest… My purple vest.

A dark chuckle emerged from him "I believe this is yours?"

I leaned forward and growled more menacingly than I ever had before "_Put Devdas DOWN!_"

**A note from the author**

**Hey guys AtalentaSonic Here! I just want to send a small shout out to another user on this site named Kindheartedjenny! Jenney your stories are awesome and thank you so much for incorporating Nicki into your story Life On Mobius! Sorry its taken me so long to acknowledge this. Feel free to use Nicki whenever you want, and thanks once again!**


	34. The Inferno

I glared at the albino echidna, with sheer hatred, as he stood there smirking, with Devdas slung loosely under his arm. "Did I stutter?" I hissed "Put him down **now**!" I yelled unsheathing the knife from my boot for emphasis.

The echidnas smile grew wider amused by my challenge, but to my surprise he bowed slightly and released his arm, making Devdas fall to the ground. I stood there shocked as Finitevus started to back away.

At first, I shuffled forward nervously my knife still pointed at the echidna, then once I decided he was far enough away I put the knife away and sprinted to Devdas' motionless form. I skidded to a halt I fell to my knees as I examined my friend.

He was in bad shape, he had cuts and swollen areas all over his body. His shirt was in tatters and his pants were ripped in multiple areas. My heart beat with horror as I grabbed his hand, palm facing upwards, and brought my fingers to his wrist to see if there was any pulse.

Time seemed to stop around me, for at first I didn't feel anything, then relief spread through me as I finally felt a steady, thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump come from his wrist. My relief however, was short-lived since not even a moment after I found out Devdas was okay I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. I suddenly wished that I didn't put my knife away as I heard Finitevus speak "I never wanted it to come to this you know?"

I chuckled darkly "A little too late for that ya think?" I then shook off his hand and as quick as a flash, grabbed Devdas limp body and ran a safe distance away from Finitevus to remove my friend from any danger. I laid his body against a tree and turned back to the Echidna. "And why the hell should I listen to a word you say after what you did to Devdas?"

Finitevus walked forward calmly with an innocent smile on his face "Believe me child-"

"Nicki.." I corrected snidely.

His eyes narrowed but he kept his calm composure "Very well then…" He sighed "Believe me _Nicki… _I was not the one to do this to your "_friend_". If anything I saved him from a cruel fate of falling victim to Predator and Scourge."

I bit my lip, _so Scourge finally did catch up…._ I looked back to Finitevus, his face was unchanged in his solemn, almost fatherly look. I balled my fists with frustration "Don't think I actually believe that crap! I know how good you are at lying!"

Finitevus threw his head back and laughed "Ah yes! But you must keep in mind that you are not a dim witted guardian, or a power hungry kommisar!" He snapped his head back down and his eyes bore into mine "And besides, from what I've been hearing your hands have not been the cleanest with the truth either…"

My face reddened "That's none of your business!"

His smile widened "Oh? well I make it my business anyway…. Especially since that proves that we're more alike than you think!"

"I'm **nothing **like you!" I hissed

"I know you've seen it" he said ignoring my statement "The corruption of this city, the foolishness of Naugus, the easily deceived citizens, and especially the filth of Eggmans technology. You've lied to keep the ones that you love safe from those things am I correct?"

"…."

He walked closer "My ambitions are hardly what you believe they are Nicki, you and I have both seen this world for what it truly is." He stopped only a few feet away and offered me his hand. He smiled warmly "Nicki, together we can accomplish great things. We can dethrone Naugus, and eliminate the threat of Eggman and anyone tied to him. Nicki, together let us skip all of the fighting and do what's truly best for the world."

Man his hand looked tempting…. Suddenly my mind flashed back to when he tried to hex me. I remembered he played at my weaknesses last time he used Aurora, this time he was working off of my hatred of Naugus and Eggman. I grit my teeth "You know what I think is best for the world?" I quickly turned my foot and swung a powerful kick at the Doctor's head. Unfortunately, he drew his hand back and jumped out of the way to avoid my kick, his smile vanishing. "I snapped into a fighting position "I think you should leave this planet and never come back!"

His eyes narrowed with anger, I could tell that his "_nice guy"_ act was over "This is your last chance _Nicki_!" He yelled "If you come willingly now you will be treated with respect, the Destructix will not be allowed to place a finger on you, and I will spare you friend's lives. However, if you don't your friends will die, The Destructix will be allowed to beat you as they see fit, and…" He smiled revealing his sharp teeth "I will not hold back with my experiments!"

My blood suddenly froze and I took a few steps back, _was he serious? _I looked over his face again and, as per usual, I couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not. "_What if he wasn't?" _Something inside me said. The thought of my friends getting hurt, a beating from the Destructix, or even getting experimented on by Dr. Finitevus was all too horrible to imagine. Just giving up and sparring myself and my friends pain was extremely tempting… But that was the _easy_ choice… not the _right_ choice. I narrowed my eyes, If I just gave up now there would be no chance of me escaping him, I smirked "None of those things are going to happen Finitevus, because I'm not going anywhere."

His eyes narrowed as he walked to the side "I see how this is going to be then.."

I didn't say anything I only mimicked his movement steadily walking, so I would be directly across from him. Our circling continued for a few moments until almost completely out of instinct we stopped right across from each other. Everything, for the first time ever in New Mobotropolis, seemed to be Quiet. No noise coming from any people, no birds chirping even the battles in the distance seemed to wait in anticipation for this one moment.

By the time Finitevus made his move I wasn't sure if five seconds or five minutes went by, but I was ready for him. As quick as a flash his arm raised up in the air releasing a small wave of chaos energy. I narrowly avoided it, but not before a warp ring opened behind me revealing Finitevus with an outstretched fist aimed for my face. I quickly turned my head so his fist would only graze my cheek, I then used the side of my fist to whack the back of his skull as he made his way infront of me. Due to the sudden impact he fell forward a bit but regained his balance. He slowly turned shocked but then smiled maliciously. He charged forward at me going on the offensive.

I dodged, parried, and blocked many of his attacks before I went on the offensive myself. I noted how good Finitevus was at fighting for being just a scientist, he was able to get anywhere he wanted with those warp rings (which got annoying after a few unwanted strikes to my stomach) his movements were also very unpredictable. I wasn't able to do anything about that until I was finally able to sense his warp ring open behind me. I quickly balled my fist and swung behind me randomly.

Suddenly I found us in a position where he had caught my fist and I had somehow managed to grab his. We were caught in this stand still trying unsuccessfully to overpower each other. We struggled like this for a few moments before he spoke "It appears you have gotten better since last time…"

I wasn't able to respond because right at that moment both of Finitevus' hands erupted into dark chaos energy. I screamed with agony as I let his fist go and tore my other hand from his grasp. I quickly jumped back and examined the burns to my hands.

I heard The Echidna chuckle "… But it's going to take much more than physical brutality to defeat me!" I only glared at him menacingly "You haven't seemed to use any chaos energy yet. What's the matter?" he taunted "Last time you seemed more than eager to use your chaos energy against me what makes this time any different?"

I barred my teeth as Finitevus fired three blasts of chaos energy at me. I dodged all but one, I screamed with pain as I was blown backwards by the shot, accompanied by Finitevus' insane laughter.

I grit my teeth and started to force myself up, when Finitevus emerged from a warp ring in front of me "You cannot win Nicki!" he said this as he struck my side with his foot. I yelped and was knocked a few feet away but suddenlyI felt a small flame light inside me. "And do you know why you can't?" he said walking up to me with slow menacing steps. He reached down grabbing my face and forcing me to sit up and look up at him. "Because you are _weak!"_

I felt the fire spread as I gritted my teeth with sheer hatred for Finitevus. "NO….." I balled my fist and uppercut him straight in the stomach, forcing him to let go of my face and stumble backwards.

"I…" I sprung up and thrust my palm at him, and supported it by grabbing that arm with my other hand.

"AM…" My palm started to glow brighter than it ever had before, and I felt the fire expand.

"**NOT!" **Chaos energy released from my palm, but suddenly as fast as the energy had been released it changed shape. The energy started to flicker with light and had small tendrils of light emerging in strand then dissapearing. What I was looking at was a huge inferno of silvery white flames, all blasting from my palm at the area Finitevus was. Amazed, I quickly cut off the energy and examined my palm mystified by what had just happened.

All that was left of the inferno was a small glowing spot on my palm that soon went out and returned to regular skin. I was to wrapped up in what just happened that I didn't notice a bandaged hand reach out form a warp ring behind me, grab me by my hair and pull me through.

I was thrown down on my butt but was thankful to see the Lake of Rings. I looked up with a mixture of anger and surprise on my face to see, a slightly singed, Finitevus who was standing by his warp ring proudly. "That right Nicki!" he laughed "Show me your true power!"


	35. The Daughter of Aurora

I blinked with amazement as Finitevus' warp ring closed and flew back to its place on his wrist. I was finally able to come back to my senses when I finally felt my whole body tingling with a strange warmth. I shivered at this new strange sensation, and brought my hands up to my face out of curiosity, when I noticed they were still flickering with a fiery light. Not only that, the skin on my palms was turning to some kind of magenta, and the color was slowly starting to take over my hand. I yelped and quickly shook out my hands willing the fire and its warmth to go away.

The flickering light quickly died and my skin faded back to its normal color, much to my relief. Then, I snapped my head up to see Finitevus when I started to hear his cruel laughter. As I looked him over a part of me felt a considerable amount of pride when I saw the inferno didn't leave him completely unscathed. I saw that the white parts of the echidnas skin, that were visible, were covered with soot and some burns, his black cape was also considerably shorter and still smoking. As his laughing died I got up as fast as my aching bones would let me and waited to see what the echidna had to say.

"Magnificent!" exclaimed Finitevus "You never cease to entertain me child!"

I growled with aggravation and lashed out "I'm not here for your entertainment! I'm here to defeat you, run you out of New Mobotropolis, and then burn your phycotic ass to a crisp! IN THAT ORDER!" This only triggered another laughing fit from Finitevus. I only stood there with annoyance until, before I could even blink he stopped and fired a large wave of chaos energy at me. However, thanks to my quick reflexes I was able to dodge it. He emerged from a warp ring only a few meters away from me. I quickly threw a sphere of chaos energy at him; this one looked normal however it still had small characteristics of a fire to it. Finitevus dodged it and moved in to slash me in the stomach with negative chaos energy.

I gritted my teeth and fell backward clutching my now burning stomach. At the same time I saw the ball of chaos energy that I threw just a moment before bounce off the mirrored windows of a building and come back hitting Finitevus in the back just as he was about to slash me again.

As the sphere exploded I quickly jumped back and out of harm's way. As my feet touched the ground I stood there gawking at what had just happened, but only a second later a smile slowly came to my face and I started laughing "Aaaaaand that's Nicki's trick shot of the day everybody!"

But only a second later heard Finitevus bellow with rage. I quickly got into attack position but nothing happened, then before I could even do anything, I felt a warp ring open up behind me and suddenly a bandaged hand emerged from the golden ring and grabbed ahold of my hair pulling me through in the process. I was then slammed to the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of me I weakly looked up to see Finitevus plant his foot firmly on my chest, and thrust his hand at my head fingers first. He grabbed ahold of my head and with the biggest smile on his face his hand alit with negative chaos energy.

I screamed in agony as my body seemed to go out of control, the horrid sensation spreading through all of my limbs I then heard Finitevus's distant voice whisper "That's right… Itonly hurts when you resist!"

I grit my teeth and struggled to find control of my body, I knew if I didn't do something quick I would lose myself to him. I felt the chaos energy caress and finger at my mind willing me to let him through; however, I knew better, I knew that if he was to get through he would probably disable my whole body or worse. I felt myself becoming more and more unaware of everything around me, that is until I suddenly felt, what I thought were, my hands grasp with something solid. Then my vision started to clear as I fought to get back to reality, and first thing I saw was a very bewildered Dr. Finitevus, and my hands wrapped around the warp ring container on his arm. Taking this opportunity, I quickly yelled and pushed him away with all of my strength, thankfully that was enough to pry him off of me and make him fall backwards.

As I shook off the effects of mental attack, my old warm tingling sensation returned, however this time I was pumped so full of adrenalin I really didn't care what was happening to me. Turning my attention back to the amazed doctor lying in front of me, I whipped out the knife that I had sheathed in the back of my boot. I then whispered "You will never do that to me again!" I then ran forward and made a stabbing motion downward at the echidna only to have him roll out of the way, but not before my knife stabbed through his cape effectively ripping a section of the fabric off. I quickly took off collecting the knife and the fabric that it had impaled. I looked back to Finitevus with triumph only to see a smile spread across his face. I narrowed my eyes and took a step back.

"What's so-" I stopped when I suddenly felt my back bump into someone.

My eyes wide with horror I slowly looked behind me "Hey bright eyes you miss me?" said a snide voice. Scourge threw a swift kick at my back, but I jumped up before it could make contact. As I was in the air I saw a flash of blue and three lines of heat struck me across my face. Being knocked off balance I fell to the ground and landed on my side. I cringed as I felt the side of my and brought a hand back to see quite a bit of blood. I didn't even have time to react as I felt a moist string wrap around my leg and throw me into a tree. I grit my teeth with pain and blinked splotches from my vision as I recovered.

I weakly looked up seeing the Destructix start to assemble; I stared in disbelief as hopelessness started to wash over me. I suddenly felt something tickle the side of my hand. I looked down and saw that I had miraculously managed to hold onto my knife through all of that and right in the center was the piece of black silky fabric that used to belong to Finitevus. I smiled as an idea came to mind; I stuffed the fabric into my pocket and stood to face the Destructix who were all assembled by this point.

As I looked them over I noticed the whole group had a various amount of injuries. Fiona and Flying looked fairly roughed up but nothing to horrible. Predator however was covered in small cuts and looked fairly pissed. Simian had his hand all bandaged up, and I could have sworn that the blood lines were more prominent in Scourge's eyes. The strangest however, was Lightning. His eyes were unfocused and he seemed like he was all kinds of disoriented, which made me ask myself '_What happened to Nadi-La?' _I shook my head and reassured myself that she was fine. I looked back up to the Destructix and saw Fiona had stepped forward. She smirked smugly "What are you gonna do now kid?!"

I sighed and put on a smirk "This…." I said casually. I turned on my heel and ran into the small pack of trees behind me.

I ran and ran eyeing the trees around me, strongly aware of the shouts and jeers of the Destructix behind me. I felt my chaos energy grow in my urgency and as it grew I felt myself being able to run faster and faster until I came across a tree with a small hole in the center. I came to a screeching halt and pulled the inky black fabric out of my pocket gently setting it in the hole. I took the knife, which was still in my hand, and stabbed it right through the fabric once again so it would stay in place. I let go of the hilt and moved back a few paces to admire my work. Satisfied, I ran up a few more paces and felt a green spindash wiz by my ear.

I saw Scourge land in front of me and jerked my hand back to see the rest of the Destructix behind me. I smirked "Six against one? That's hardly fair, but then again why should I believe that you guys of all people would fight fair?"

Scourge ignored my statement walked around me menacingly "Time to end this stupid hunt!" the Destructix surrounded me then time slowed down as I used my last resort. I willed the warmth to take over, because I knew, if I was gonna go out I was gonna go out fighting. The second I gave in I felt light burst everywhere my body somehow adjusting itself to what was going on. I felt quicker, more sensitive to my surroundings and… shorter? I shook that thought off as the light died down, and decided to use this distraction against the Destructix.

I went after Flying first, and before he knew what to do I had already punched him twice and kicked him into a tree. I then moved on to Scourge, who by then had expected my attack and blocked my first shot but I quickly found an opening and grabbed ahold of his jacket and punching him in the jaw. I was about to move on again until I felt my whole body suddenly blasted with negative chaos energy. I fell to the ground my eyes squeezed shut and my body shaking from the hit.

I finally opened my eyes and snapped my head behind me to see Finitevus yelling something to the Destructix something that sounded a lot like "Don't just stand there attack!"

They all ran toward me I got up to defend myself but whatever Finitevus did to me seemed to have drained all of my energy away. I fell to the ground and looked up to see Scourge bring both of his fists down on my head making everything go black.

I finally regained awareness when I felt two sets of arms roughly drag me into an upright position. I grit my teeth and looked up to see what they were going to do to me next but instead I saw the albino himself Dr. Finitevus. "What are you doing here?" I scolded weakly"Shouldn't you be cowering in your shadows."

He only chuckled at my statement and roughly grabbed my face once more and smiled leaning in "How does it feel Nicki? How does it feel to be whole once more?"

I narrowed my eyes at him "What are you-" It was then when, I looked down and saw my reflection on his warp ring container that I finally knew what he was talking about. I smiled to myself '_That dream I had when I first came finally made sense!'_

I suddenly felt someone hit the back of my neck. I felt my head slowly fall forward and I felt tears come to my eyes as my they drooped shut. The last think I heard was Finitevus' laughter, and the sound of my own thoughts.

Devdas. Nadi-La. I'm sorry…..…


	36. Perchance To Dream

_Devdas. Nadi- La I'm sorry…_

…_.._

_N-nicki… no…_

I laid there lifelessly I hadn't eaten or drunken anything in days; the sun beat down mercilessly on my dark fur. I tried to move my head forward, but felt the awfully familiar tug of the rope on my neck, tied to the newly abandoned building behind me. I hated it… I hated the beings that had tied that accursed thing to my neck. And even to this day I never understood why they did what they did.

Moving away with all of my brothers and sisters away while they tie up the runt and leave him to die? Surely the more merciful option would have been to release me into the woods, sure I was only six months old at the time but I would have been able to fend for myself just fine. And, even if I was to die by some predator or natural cause, it would have been more merciful than this.

I was jerked away from my thoughts when I heard small thumps come from in front of me, I cracked my dried eyes open to see a small rabbit hop out of the woods and into the open. The only thing I could think about at that moment was how nice of a meal that thing would have made, however it was beyond the limits of my rope. It was sheer torture seeing food only meters away but being unable to do anything to retrieve it.

I continued to watch the accursed thing until it was finished with its business and began to take its leave. Just as the creature was about to pass me to return to its home in the woods, a long stick with a pointed end impaled the poor creature and imbedded itself in the ground. The only one more stunned than the rabbit had to be myself. The initial shock gave me enough energy to lift my head from the place it had been resting for so long.

Only a few seconds after the rabbit had been stuck, a figure dashed from the woods and up to the fatally wounded rabbit. The figure spoke words that at the time I didn't understand at the time, but now I was able to comprehend as "I am sorry my friend…"

The figure swiftly wrung the rabbit's neck, and with that it was dead. It stood and as a cloud covered the sun I could see it more clearly. It was an offspring of the species that had tied me up, a female to be precise. Judging by her height she had to be no more than ten years old. She had a large container of the pointed sticks that had killed the rabbit on her back and another more curved stick that had a string tied to either end in her hand. As she turned to me I saw that she had short brown hair and a childish face twisted into a melancholy expression.

I hated her; I held a hard grudge against the creatures that had put me into this position, and according to my logic back then she had taken MY kill, even though I would never have been able to get it. I immediately forced myself to my feet and growled menacingly.

She only tore the pointed stick from the rabbit's carcass and stood "It's not like you could have killed it yourself, I saw you back there and I could have sworn you were dead." I continued to growl and snarl but was too weak to pull on the rope to follow up on my threat. The girl only smiled walking around me and into the diameter of which I could move. "Go ahead, I'm right here." She said calmly. I stopped snarling with surprise humans didn't usually do things like this, but I figured she was asking for it and took a step forward. The immediate result was me falling to the side too weak to hold my own weight. The girl sighed "See? Don't go picking fights when you're in this condition."

The girl closed in and proceeded to slice the rope free from my neck. My eyes widened in surprise, the only humans I knew were my previous owners, and they're the ones who left me to die. So why was this one treating me with any decency at all?

Before I could even blink, I was gulping down heavenly water from a canteen, and eating raw rabbit meat. The food and drink however was short lived and gone in the matter of seconds, my stomach yearned for more.

I suddenly felt a slight pressure on my head and saw that the human had approached me and placed her hand there. I growled but stopped when I looked up. The last thing I saw was the girls smile before the image faded and twisted into something different all together.

It was dark and I was running…. I was running for my life. Two members of the Destructix were literally at my tail. I clutched onto the purple vest I was holding, they were fast, but I had to be faster. In order to, protect her…

I felt blunt force hit the back of my head with incredible speed. I fell forward in shock letting go of the vest sending it flying into the air as I felt Predator Hawk tackle me to the ground. I struggled against him but stopped when I felt someone kick the back of my head. I snarled and looked up to see the blurry image of Scourge the hedgehog.

I clutched my teeth in anger and fear as I saw him kneel down to my level "Well lookey what we have here he said smugly "Looks like Romeo here is trying to play hero!"

I struggled against Predators grip once more but quickly found out that that was a bad idea when Simian aimed his rifle at my head. "Don't move." he said gruffly.

"He doesn't have the kid with him." said Predator as he snatched up Nicki's vest from the ground "Looks like he was leading us on with this! How pathetic!"

I felt the barrel of Simians gun nudge my head "Where is she?" he demanded.

My heart pounded with fear but I knew what I had to say. I swallowed hard and stared daggers at them "I'm never telling anything to the likes of you!" I hissed.

Scourge only lowered his glasses and shrugged "His choice. Lay into him Predator..."

I closed my eyes as the hawk raised his razor sharp talons, but re-opened them when I felt nothing. I looked behind me to see the hawk's hand still hanging in midair, his eyes fixed on something in front of him, Scourge and Simian had the exact same look. I gulped and followed their gazes only to see an albino echidna with a black cape wrapped tightly around his body completely obscuring the rest of himself. His eyes bore into all four us coldly.

"Off…" He demanded in a firm voice.

Almost immediately Predator was off of me, and Simian had put his gun away. I glanced at both of them suspiciously, and then cautiously started to get up. I groaned with pain as spasms started to shoot through my already aching muscles. When forcing myself to my feet I noticed Simian stand at attention "We did make contact with the kid, but once they got away this one-"

"I don't recall asking for your excuses." said Finitevus cutting him off abruptly "All of you go and collect the rest of your team, now. Leave this one to me…."

Simian looked somewhat taken aback but quickly recovered and nodded his head motioning for the others to follow as he went away to go meet up with his teammates. Predator took off into the sky dropping Nicki's jacket making it flutter gracefully down to the ground only a few meters away. As soon as I looked back I saw Scourge standing right in front of me. The green hedgehog only grinned, lowering his shades over his eyes ramming his shoulder into mine as he took off into the shadows. Leaving only me and Finitevus…. _Oh joy_.

I grit my teeth with hatred, at the sheer sight of the doctor. The last time I had saw him, was when he was trying to hex Nicki with that awful smile on his face. I growled "I take it you already know who I am." I said my voice full of hatred "Why did you stop them?"

The wind blew, unwrapping the doctor's cape from his body forcing it to flow gracefully behind him. Finitevus chuckled "Yes I know _what _you are, and as for stopping the Destructix, why on Mobius would I let such a useful information source to slip through my fingers?" 

"The hairs on the back of my neck spiked up as I backed up with fear "I'm not telling you anything!"

The doctor sighed and opened a warp ring next to him. "You don't need to _tell _me anything..." the doctor casually walked through it, the ring soon disappearing after him. I stood, every inch of my body alert, I heard nothing but the wind, but as the air blew once more I detected a sickeningly sweet smell, however, I was too little too late. Almost immediately I felt a hand forcibly latch onto the back of my head, making me scream with a mixture of surprise and terror.

He laughed then leaned in to speak softly "I can just take the information from you by force." Then, his hand alit with black flames I felt almost a sucking sensation inside of my skull and the world started to dull around me.

"Consider yourself Lucky." Said his distant voice "I could have done much worse if I had more time."

"No….. you can't…."

"Devdas please! Come on, wake up!"

I groaned with pain as I felt my body being shaken violently. I cracked open my eyes to see an image of a disgruntled walrus above me. "R-rotor?"

He smiled "And he lives!" I sat up despite the painful protests of my own body. Rotor placed a small bottle of water in hand "Drink this; it will make you feel better." I looked at the bottle, then started to hear a loud creaking sound coming from all around me. I looked above me and saw that the metal dome was starting to recede. As the hole revealing the sky grew wider small droplets of rain fell from the night sky started to pour into the city.

I sighed and started to unscrew the lid from the water he had given me "How were you able to find me?"

Rotors smile disappeared as he pointed to his right "She led me here…" he said wearily. I looked to the side and saw the small pale pink echidna that I recognized as Nadi- La, standing there with her back turned to me, wrapped in a blanket.

I dropped the water and ran over to her despite Rotors protests "Nadi- La! Am I glad to see you! Are you okay? What happened to Nicki?" I said enthusiastically.

Nadi- la remained silent and stared up at the retreating metal dome above the city. "Nadi- La…" I repeated softly, my heart pounding. She didn't answer yet again. The, I forcibly grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to look at me "WHERE IS-"

the receding dome finally disappeared allowing the rain to coat both me and Nadi- La, neither of us moved. Water started to leak stream down the pink echidnas wide eyed face however it wasn't the rain, it was Nadi- la's own tears. The first time I had ever seen her cry.

"I'm sorry Devdas…" she sad lightly "Nicki's gone…."


	37. New Hope

**Hey guys a little PSA from AtalentaSonic before chapter 37. There is a website called Free Rice .com . It's an awesome study aid, that has questions for a multitude of different subjects. For every answer you get right the website owner donates 10 grains of rice to people all around the world in need. Now before you ask, YES this website is legit, I have checked everything. So go and support this website by making an account, or don't, either way answering questions will help hungry people everywhere! So without further ado please enjoy chapter 37 of Surviving Mobius! **

I ran through New Mobotropolis in utter disbelief and panic, my face being pelted with the freezing rain "NICKI!" I screamed in false hopes to hear an answer "NICKI!" I yelled once again in despiration. With every drop of rain that fell Nicki's scent and trail became more and more unrecognizable.

I thought back to a few minutes ago when Nadi- La had told me Nicki was taken away. I remembered I just stood there for a moment my face full of shock, and ran off without a word. My actions must have looked pathetic to both Nadi- La and Rotor, however I had to know for myself, Nicki couldn't be gone. Could she? That thought alone produced another yell from me "NICKI!".

I followed her scent all the way to an area around the Lake of Rings. As I sniffed the air I realized that it wasn't just Nicki's scent here, it was mixed with a few other familiar smells. A growl formed in the back of my throat "The Destructix!" Even though it was dark from the rain clouds above me I was able to make out a muddy trail that continued into a small clump of trees on my right.

As I followed the trail it became more and more obvious by tracks on the ground that there was a chase going through here, I estimated that the trail was only about three hours old. I grit my teeth in determination and sped up making sure not to loose sight of the tracks. I ran and ran until the trail suddenly ended, and Nicki's scent was the stronger than anywhere else in the entire city.

I circled the area searching, but Nicki was nowhere to be seen. The only thing that was worth recognizing was charred tree trunks and burns grass almost as if someone was using a flame- thrower. There was a battle here.

The awful realization spread through me like searing hot lava, I fell to my knees. Nicki was gone, Finitevus took her… again! I clenched my teeth and slammed my fist to the ground, If I wouldn't have gotten caught Finitevus would have never known where she was going to be! I sat there in silence for who knows how long, listening to the pitter patter of rain around me until the clouds finally cleared and the morning sun peaked over the horizon. It wasn't long until I heard frightened/ confused citizens start to emerge from underground bunkers. Even then I didn't move until I heard a voice penetrate my thoughts "It wasn't you're your fault, you know? You preformed beyond what anyone would have expected from you."

I looked up irritably "Nadi- La do me a favor and stay out of my thoughts!" I said while looking up to a tree branch to see the pale pink echidna herself. I sensed her surprise at my statement, but she kept her usual wide eyed composure, except this time she had a hint of a glare.

"What gave it away?" she asked

"When Benedict was about to kill Nicki, the voice that spoke in my mind and told me to go check on her. I have to admit it was well disguised, but…" I pointed to my ear with the smallest smile on my face "I was able to detect the smallest hint of your own voice in it." Pride spread through me as I saw Nadi-La become bigger eyed than normal. My smile grew, she never did give me enough credit, and this time, it cost her.

She quickly regained her usual composure and hoped down from her branch landing in front of me with an apologetic look on her face. "I wanted to tell you but-"

"It's okay Nadi-La" I said while gently pushing her messy hair out of her face "I know, we were all hardly accepted as it is. Thought I may not agree the way you handled it, it was probably for the best."

The pink echidna nodded her head sadly "So what are we going to do about all of this?"

"You should already know…" I said while starting to stand up, ignoring my aching joints "I'm going after Nicki!" As I started to walk away Nadi-La sped in front of me and came to a sudden halt.

"You can't do it alone. I'm going too…"

I wanted to protest but as much as I hated to admit it, she was right. Finitevus took me down and stole information without breaking a sweat, and if I went after him alone who knows what would happen to me. Not to mention, Nadi-La's abilities could prove to be very useful, and not to mention she cared about Nicki almost as much as I did. A smile appeared on my face "Nadi-La-"

I was suddenly interrupted by a small, but strong, glint of light, which shone right in my eyes. I squinted, and saw that the source of light was coming a crevasse in a tree.

"What's that?" I asked, as I cautiously approached the trunk of the suspicious tree. I carefully lowered my hand into the indent and was surprised when my hand grabbed ahold of something solid. Intrigued, I quickly pulled at the object until it slid out of the crevasse.

To my surprise I hsaw the object was a knife, but not just any knife, this knife had an padded black hilt (which I was holding onto) and a gracefully curved silver blade with one side blunted, I recognized it as Nicki's knife. As I looked it over I noticed that an ink colored fabric was fluttering gracefully off the center.

I swiftly slipped the knife out of the fabric and handed it to Nadi-La. The smooth fabric looked eerily familiar, so I raised it up to my nose and gave it a whiff. I immediately recoiled when I smelled the sickeningly sweet scent that I knew belonged to Dr. Finitevus. But as I finished gaging I realized something. I could track this!

I looked to Nadi-La and her hopeful face told me we were thinking the same. We had found our first lead to finding Nicki!


	38. Ashes

I sat there in despair my arms wrapped around my knees. My throat ached from all the yelling I was doing just a few moments before. My hand reached out, and I ran my fingers along the bars of the dog crate they kept me in. I sneered with disgust drew my hand back in, holding it in front of my face remembering what Finitevus had told me. I sighed, the last thing I could remember before waking up and finding myself in this crate was, waking up and finding myself strapped down onto a cold examination table.

I remember it vividly, my eyes cracked open and the first thing that I was greeted to was the blurry image of a dimly lit room around me, although as my vision cleared I was able to see everything. A heart rate machine that beeped rhythmically with every beat of my own heart, a small work bench, at the end of my bed, that had many medical supplies scattered all over it, and two IV drips on either side of me.

I wearily looked at my own body, my skin was magenta, and half my now very loose fitting cloths, were gone. The only thing that remained, was my shorts and my tank top, which was rolled up to reveal my midriff and the small electrodes attached to it, and speaking of electrodes, they were everywhere. On my arms, legs, stomach, and I wasn't quite sure but I thought I felt a few on my face. The only patches of revealed skin that didn't have electrodes on them were my two hands, which were occupied by the IV's.

Waking up to this, and remembering what had happened in New Mobotropolis, you think I would have had a panic attack, but every ounce of emotion I tried to feel just washed away as quickly as it came, I couldn't even move any of my limbs either. I looked to one of the IV drips concluding that one must have been a sedative. I tried my best to feel something, _**anything**__, _but the only result I had was a louder beep on the heart monitor.

After a while I just gave up and watched the celling until I heard a muffled noise. My eyes lazily drifted over to the side to see Dr. Finitevus himself coming into the room. Finally, The closest thing I felt to emotion since I had woken up sparked in me, and just for a moment I felt hatred, however that quickly washed away to and I was back to feeling nothing.

Finitevus looked over in my direction and smirked when he noticed I was aware of his presence "Welcome back my dear Nicki." he said in a mocking tone.

I looked over my now magenta body and forced all my willpower and strength into saying a single word "H…o…..w?"

Finitevus narrowed his eyes "How?" he repeated. He stayed silent for a moment and then smiled as if he finally understood what I was asking. He chuckled "Very well." Said the white echidna as he proceeded to the work bench pulling out a pencil paper and a small clipboard. After that he walked over to the side of my bed his pencil busily scratching on the paper "Pay attention child for I will only tell you this once." He turned the clip board revealing a well-drawn outline of a human body to me, with lines going through it that reminded me of veins. After giving me a brief second to look over it he started "Basic chaos energy is actually quite simple. It runs through the body and appears when the user summons it, however yours worked quite differently. From the body scan I collected from our last meeting, I was able to see that only twenty five percent of your energy was available for actual use. The rest well was, well dedicated to a… different cause."

To my surprise I felt my eyes narrow. _What did he mean by 'different cause' why was he telling me all this?_

Almost like he could sense my concern he smiled evilly at me, continuing "Yes, I was quite surprised too." He then reached out and pinched my cheek, so hard that it hurt, and leaned into wisper "Yes, I must admit for a brief moment I was considering disposing of you." I felt an involentary bead of sweat trickle down the side of my face as he let go "But, soon after, I figured out that that problem was easily fixed." He drew on his paper once again and turned it back toward me. On the human outline was now a hastily drawn pendent, my pendent, "Aurora seems to have interfered with your life more than you or I may have thought." I would have laughed if I could have, Aurora never really made a point of '_being there for me'_, yet I couldn't help but latch onto every word the mad doctor said. "I created a theory that she was using that pendent to regulate the other seventy five percent of your power to maintaining your human disguise, isolating you to the twenty five percent of useable power. I was planning on testing that theory, however you so rudely escaped before I could even try, so I did the next best thing, I tested you while you had your pendent off when we were fighting." He smiled once more "The results were better than I could have hoped! You even saved me the trouble of ripping that cursed artifact off your neck. You're chaos energy naturally merged together when you summoned it and without anything to stop it! ….." He ripped the paper from the clipboard, and lit it ablaze with negative chaos energy. The paper eerily danced with flames, and soon ebbed away to nothing "Your outer shell burned away!"

My mind, surprisingly sharp now, danced with what he had just told me, I was scared, confused, and angry all at once. Why was he telling me all of this? Was it to phyc me out or for something else entirely? For once I was glad I had the sedative, so Finitevus couldn't see the inner turmoil I was going through. My eyes just stared emotionlessly at him as his smile disappeared and he walked over to his workbench and fiddled around with a few things saying dully "However all ashes must land somewhere….."

_All ashes must land somewhere? _The gears in my head turned trying to figure out what that meant, but before I could get anywhere Finitevus walked over with a syringe full of clear liquid. Even with the sedative I felt my heart beat slightly increase at the sight of the needle Finitevus smiled evilly "I've enjoyed our little chat." He reached down and caressed my cheek as his smile grew "But its time for you to go back to sleep… sweet dreams!" With that he plunged the needle into my shoulder and the world around me went black.

And here I was now, locked in a dog crate in some sort of dimly lit oversized storage closet. I know that because there are machines, hiding me from view that look like they haven't been used in ages. I was dressed in some sort of baggy brown cotton like material that felt very large on me.

I reached my hand out in front of my face. It was magenta…. Of course. Once again I thought about what Finitevus had said _"Ashes must land somewhere". _I cautiously looked up but saw no cameras, however I was sure they were monitoring me some way. I looked back to my hand, and focused, imagining a protective glove around it. I opened my eyes and saw the tips of my magenta fingers turning to the familiar cream colored skin that I was so accustomed to. A small smile appeared on my lips, suddenly I heard the door nob jiggle from across the room. I looked over in alarm and reluctantly replaced my old skin color with the new magenta. _Later, but not now._

I forced a cocky smile to my lips as Scourge rounded one of the machines that was obscuring my view. "My there pickles!" I said with forced sarcasm "Here to take me to the doctor?"

The green hedgehog looked at me with distaste, like I was some kind of freak, and honestly, who could blame him, I was a freak. He sighed and unlocked the door "Let's go echidna..."


	39. The Beginning

Rotor jumped back, startled, as I slammed Nicki's knife along with the black silk on his coffee table "This is it Rotor!" I said enthusiastically "I can track Nicki using these!"

Rotor watched me with a mixture of surprise and nervousness on his face. I guess it was because did technically, just barge into his house and throw a knife and random piece cloth onto his coffee table, but still, other than Nadi-La he'd be the first person I'd go to. The walrus backed up with a nervous smile on his face "T-that's great news Dev" he said "But what is all of this?"

I narrowed my eyes and gestured to the foreboding cloth in between us "This…" I said seriously "Is a piece of Finitevus' cloak!"

Rotors eyes widened as he stared down at the jet black fabric almost like he didn't even believe it was there. "Are you sure it's his?" he muttered softly.

I cringed remembering when I first caught Finitevus' scent when he did who-knows-what to my brain. Let's just say that moment had branded itself into my head, and there was no chance I was forgetting a single detail, more or less his scent anytime soon.

'I'm one hundred percent sure that belonged to him I said my voice low and serious. I swiped the silky material from the table and crushed it with my grasp, closing my eyes my voice filled with emotion "Nicki stole this from him, she had to have known she was going to be captured or she would have never impaled it in that tree with her knife. I grit my teeth thinking '_they better not have hurt her.'_

I heard the door suddenly open and I was jolted back to my senses, my eyes darted over the entrance to see Nadi-La peeking in. I breathed a mental sigh of relief, but narrowed my eyes at the light pink echidna "Nadi- La, I thought I told you to keep watch."

She watched me with her cloudy hazel eyes "I was." she said mildly "But you have a visitor."

Before we even had time to ask who, what looked, like a mechanical bubble with a red and blue tentacles let himself in. I narrowed my eyes "Dimitri?"

He didn't say a word, only watching us with tired mechanical eyes. The tension in the room seemed to thicken as he spoke bluntly "Where is she?" My eyes widened and a look of renewed angst appeared on both mine and Rotors faces.

My whole body filled with unease, I had almost forgotten about Dimitri, I have personally never had a legitimate conversation with the guy, and as of recently I haven't seen Nicki or Nadi- La talking to him either. Ever since the incident with the fight outside of New Mobotropolis, Dimitri and Nicki really haven't been on good terms. I've tried asking her to go back to him but she would have nothing of it until he talked to her first. Stubborn as always.

To make things worse between them, Nicki went up on that mission to the Death Egg. I even heard once that Dimitri had objected to the idea, even when he thought she was only going up there to lay bombs in the engine room. But of course his objections went on death ears, I'm pretty sure, Naugus and Benedict made sure of that.

Needless to say, he and Nicki pretty much have an unspoken promise just to avoid each other.

Seeing our sunken faces Dimitri squeezed his eye shut and grit his teeth, he almost looked as if he was in pain "That fool!" he hissed under his breath.

As Dimitri grieved silently we stood in uncomfortable silence. Thankfully Nadi- La broke the silence "I'm going to go make some tea." She said softly. With that, she glided out of the room and into another part of the small house.

I looked to Rotor just as a wave of realization spread on his face "W-wait Nadi- La don't you need to know where my tea leaves are?"

I smiled lightly and placed my hand on his shoulder "Oh trust me. She _knows…"_ Rotor just watched me with a questioning look on his face; however I just kept smiling, _If only he knew._

"How long has it been?" said Dimitri suddenly, surprising both of us.

After a moment heasitation Rotor answered "A-about five hours."

"Five hours?" Dimitri repeated matter-of-factly. He thought for a moment then let out a deep sigh "Yes….yes. We can work with that." He said with a hint of hope in his voice.

Rotor and I looked at each other quizzically "What do you-"

"Listen!" Dimitri suddenly snapped making me jump "Nicki has a week at best, if not only a few days. As of now every hour; _**every **_second counts. We have to get to get to her before Finitevus finishes his preparations."

I stepped back and felt myself grow colder "W-what is Finitevus going to do to her?"

Dimitri looked up at me his metallic eye narrowed grave "We are talking about a being that is one push away from being a full neowalker. If Dr. Finitevus takes control of her and forces her to recognize her birthright…" Dimitri looked to the ground a grave look still dominating his features "I fear the worst…"

My eyes widened with fear and I stiffly backed up until I hit Rotors wall. Upon impact I slowly slid down to a sitting position my eyes still locked onto the four hundred year old scientist. Nicki? A neowalker? Under Finitevus' control?

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rotor make his way to his laptop, typing madly he gave me a shaky yet reassuring smile "It's okay Dev, I'm going to send the Chaotix a pre warning since Finitevus is most likely somewhere up on Angel Island, hopefully they can get a head start while I organize the Freedom Fighters to-"

Suddenly I heard a steely voice speak in my mind "_Well well well, what do we have here? The freedom fighters are not going anywhere" _I quickly looked to Rotor and Dimitri to see them both with stunned expressions on their faces. _I wasn't the only one who had heard it_ I ran to rotors coffee table and hid the knife and fabric out of sight when I finally pieced together who the voice belonged to just as I saw the shadow from the wall expand.

Finally the liquid like shadow stealthily moved to the center of room and a creature started to emerge. It had a pale mole ridden face with a horn two elf ears and a snarl plastered to its face (which I found very fitting.) As the figure fully emerged I saw the evil Ixis wizard in all of his glory "NAUGUS!" I hissed

Rotor slapped himself in the face "How many Mobians are going to barge into my house today?"

Naugus wasted no time and stalked up to me with a menacing glare "This is the last straw dog!" he sneered "Ever since that insect, you and that _ghastly_ echidna came to MY city everything has been in shambles! And now, when everything has worked out for the best and the source of that chaos has finally been taken away, you commit treason and contemplate on bringing it back!"

"Nicki!" I yelled positioning myself into an unwavering stance "**I'm** planning on bringing _Nicki_ back!"

The wizards face twisted into one of the most menacing snarls I've ever seen, so menacing I wouldn't have been surprised if his mouth started foaming. I narrowed my eyes at him, something was wrong. Naugus looked insane… well more insane than usual. His eyes bore a feral look and he seemed even more unpredictable than from when I last saw him. Who or what could cause someone like Naugus to act like this?"

Out of the thick silence that transferred between myself and Naugus I heard Rotor speak up "You don't understand! If we leave this issue unattended for too long Finitevus will-"

"SILENCE YOU FOOL!" Naugus hissed

I backed up in a mixture of surprise and anger '_What was happening to him?'_

Just then as if Naugus' freak out wasn't enough, glowing and an intense sound started emanating from the hallway. Thankfully it was enough to get Naugus to stop his rage and look over curiosly, but it also brought on a new potential threat. I sighed, thinking that I could not catch a break today, and looked around in alarm. As I finished my scan of the room I noticed a very important set of objects missing.

"Rotor?" I said nervously "Where are your City- Controlling Nanite Gloves?"

"They're over there on the tea tab-" His face drained as he looked to the empty tea table.

"Please tell me that's not coming from the kitchen…." I said

Rotor looked to me, his face petrified as he bolted towards the source of the noises and light. I ran after him and assumed Dimitri and unfortunately Naugus were right behind me. I stopped in front of an open door as Rotor did, and looked in to see a disgruntled kitchen, and in the middle of it all, a small pink echidna wearing a pair of hight tech yellow gloves, summoning objects from the nanites of the city.

As she looked to us the light and high pitched noises suddenly stopped and she grabbed her new trinkets from the air as they fell to her feet. Among them I saw a wrist arrow, a brown backpack, a small laptop, and a collapsible bo (Bo not Bow).

She gracefully swept the items into the brown bag and walked up to us like we didn't just see her breaking a tone of laws. "Hello." She said almost sweetly "I hate to have interrupted your rudimentary conversation, however, the tea is done." She said motioning to an ironically perfect tray of tea complete with fancy tea cups, vase, and flower. It pretty much looked better than anything else in the kitchen. She then started to walk by me and into the small hallway "Come on Devdas, it seems as if the freedom fighters are going to be busy with other matters we can find a way to get Nicki back ourselves."

"Stop where you are!" said a raspy voice, I cringed as I saw Naugus stalk up to Nadi- La and get in her face "You my dear, have committed a series of heinous crimes, you take one more step, and I am liable to exile you and you dog friend!"

I felt Rotor tense behind me, I myself stayed still and silent with anticipation _'Come on Nadi- La…'_

Nadi- La closed her eyes and put a sweet little girl smile on her face "I would never think of committing a horrible deed without thinking about the repercussions fist." Then, Nadi- La opened her eyes in one of the most intense glares I had ever seen. It almost looked like she was staring right through his very soul, even Naugus backtracked a few steps "However, I would believe that someone who would close the steel dome of New Mobotropolis, trapping a city full of panicked people inside and cast it off as a malfunction in the system would surely be a crime that would overshadow a mere unauthorized use of the cities nanites, don't you agree….. Naugus?"

Naugus' eyes widened panic with and backed up a few paces. "H-how…"

Nadi- La smiled, then quickly put the emotionless look back on her face "Come along Devdas." She said with a hint of amusement in her voice "We have to go save Nicki."

I looked back to Dimitri and Rotor with a reassuring smile on my face. They both looked surprised, even though they still had a hint of horror on their faces. What Nadi- La said, while impressive, just could have been the biggest triumph or the biggest mistake of her life. Either way, we didn't have too much time left here in New Mobotropolis. I quickly made a dash to join the echidna while Naugus was still immobile. I almost fell backwards when I felt something wrap around my wrist. I looked back and saw Dimitri holding it with a determined look on his face. He wasted no time mouthing one sentence to me '_Meet me in the Science center.'_

* * *

><p>"Have Mighty and Vector been able to decode the message yet?" said a red echidna with a mixture of anxiety and anticipation in his voice.<p>

A smaller purplish echidna looked at a wrist communicator and frowned "Nothing yet." She answered looking back to the distressed echidna right next to her "Knuckles, you have that look." She said gently.

"I just don't know Su." Said knuckles, looking back to the master emerald wearily. Today surprisingly peaceful. It was his and Julie- Su's day to watch over the master emerald, the sun was out, and it was in the middle of the afternoon and no sign of any enemy's. Everything was normal until Vector , Mighty and Ray got an emergency transition from New Mobotropolis. They immediately called Knuckles about it, and told him they were in the midst of decoding it but it would still take a while. He wanted to go back and help them, but he also had to watch the Master Emerald since there was _supposed_ to be some suspicious activity. However, every day there wasn't any, he grew more and more skeptical. The Chaotix were able to trace the message to somewhere on Angle Island. The fact that they even narrowed it down to angle island was nothing more than a miracle since the message was so well disguised. That made him even more uneasy.

"I guess I'm just a little nervous, it's almost like this is the calm before a storm."

Julie- su sighed "It's not just you, we're all on edge Knux."

"Could they be any slower decoding that message?" Knuckles groaned.

Julie- su smiled and elbowed him "Don't underestimate the boys, you know that they're the best in the business."

Knuckles smiled lightly "I guess you're right, hopefully they'll be calling us any second now."

Julie- Su smiled but immediately turned into a look of shock when there was a rustling in the bushes. Knuckles eyes widened and he dove on top of his partner just as three blasts sailed over their heads.

They both jumped from the master emerald shrine, the female echidna yelling "Go get em Knuckles! I'll cover you!" She shot three more blasts from the air with her own double barrel gun. As the red echidna pressed forward.

Knuckles dove into the bushes and out of sight while Julie- su waited in anticipation, until she finally heard her partner speak "Su! Get over here!"

Julie- Su ran over and her eyes widened when she saw Knuckles holding up a still sparking broken turret. "This is what was shooting at us." Said Knuckles blandly

The purplish leaned down and examined the machine more closely "This was controlled remotely, who would want to-"

Both of their eyes widened as Knuckles threw the turret away and raced back to the Master Emerald with his partner. Once they arrived they saw a figure with a black cloak on standing on the shrine. The mobian turned when he saw the two members Chaotix behind him.

"A dark legionnaire!" Knuckles immediately raced up to the shrine and attempted to attack the intruder. The cloaked figure jumped, just dodging the attack. The eyes under his cloak narrowed with frustration, then darted to the ground to see one of the crystals that surrounded the shrine.

Knuckles immediately realized what the dark legionnaire was about to do "Don't you dare-"

But it was too late, the figure swung his fist backward and broke the crystal in two, grabbing the piece that wasn't attached to the ground. Julie- su immediately fired shots at him. However this legionnaire was quick and dodged every one. He reached into his cloak and pulled out a small golden ring.

"Get back here!" yelled knuckles as he rushed toward the thief. However, the legionnaire threw the ring into the air and jumped through the portal it made before the two could get to him.

A while later Knuckles cursed and punched the ground where the dark figure once stood. "Who was that?" hissed Julie- su

Knuckles slowly stood up recalling how skilled the cloaked figure with evasion and the face that it had a warp ring. As far as he knew Eggman had not yet been able to make a warp ring that didn't require a chaos energy charge, and not to mention, that amount of skill was rare for the Dark Egg Legion. A moment of thought later knuckles finally said "I don't think whoever that was a Dark Legionnaire."

Julie- Su looked to Knuckles with a serious expression on her face. "I noticed the guy had some skill, setting up a trap like that; maybe he was just in some kind of Special Forces unit?"

"No…" said Knuckles bringing his hand to his chin as if deep in thought "The guy had a warp ring. I know the only people that have a warp ring right now are Chaotix and Dr. Finitevus, and I accounted for all of our warp rings not too long ago, which means….."

A communicator on Knuckles' wrist started buzzing like mad, the red echidna pulled up his glove and pressed the 'answer' button.

Mightys concerned face appeared on the screen "**Knuckles we finished-… What happened to you? You look awful!"**

Knuckles waved away his question. "Just a run in with some guy. What did the message say?"

Mightys eyes turned grim "**Well Rotor didn't exactly finish it, but I think we got the main point…" **

"…. And?"

**"It isn't good. Here, I'm sending it to you now!"**

"Knuckles' brow furrowed this day was about to get a lot more interesting…

** A Note From The Author:**

** Okay just in case anyone's wondering Naugus' sudden change of personality is due to the spirits that follow him around making him go crazy. So basically this is about the time where he goes out looking for another vessel and yada yada yada you know what happens if you read the comic. Again sorry for the long wait, basically everything in life is demanding my attention right now, so if a chapter is late just be patient with me. Again thanks for all of your views and reviews, especially reviews they're what keeps me going! Thanks for reading and have a good day!**


	40. Hopeless

The green hedgehog pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the crate I was imprisoned in. He motioned for me to get out with a somewhat cocky smile. I narrowed my eyes _'What was he up to?' _I cautiously removed myself from my prison, yet when I finally stood I found it was very hard to walk with my newfound height. I figured that out the hard way when Scourge took my arm and yanked me forward making me fall flat on my face.

As I recovered from my fall I heard his cruel laughter accompany me "Really!?" he mocked "And I thought you were incapable before!"

I looked up from the ground in a scowl, my face red from humiliation. "Shut it!" I hissed through clenched teeth. It wasn't like I asked for any of this, the only reason I was able to stay balanced back in New Mobotropolis was because my body was so pumped so full of adrenalin. Now… I was less than such.

if I had known that pendent of mine acted as an inhibitor that kept me human, and regulated my power. I would have glued it to my neck rather than given it to Nadi- La!…. But no… apparently it's impossible for me to have a normal day of life without something jumping out and yelling "Surprise Nicki! Your life just got a whole lot weirder today!"

I growled with irritation as I stood up giving Scourge warning glances along the way. Thankfully, he didn't try anything funny, he just stood there with a mocking smile on his face as I finished my accent. I sighed with frustration blowing a stray pink hair from my face as I thought back to what Finitevus had told me. If ashes had to fall somewhere, then I shouldn't be like this for too long, all I had to do was balance out my power again, right? And then I'd be my old self again, that better had been the case, or I would be stuck like this forever.

I lifted my chin as I took a few shaky steps forward, but stopped when I stepped in front of one of the more reflective of the abandoned machines. My hands shook as I saw my whole reflection for the first time. My sapphire blue eyes were sunken, and a halo of ratty, cherry blossom pink hair fell down my back. My skin all around was a dark magenta, except for some lighter pink lines that were healing scratches, and or scars that I received from New Mobotropolis. The light brown, long sleeved prisoner outfit that I was wearing, stood out against my darker skin, and worst of all were the quills that dangled all around my head.

I swallowed hard as my arm involuntarily twitched, and seemed to move up to my head all on its own, to touch one of the quills. I yelped when I felt the foreign pressure registered on the new appendage. I had only seen my reflection once before when I had briefly looked into one of Finitevus' warp rings right before I blacked out. That was just a brief glimpse, however now I had time to view my whole body and savor the image. In a way I looked a lot like how knuckles described my mother… I didn't like it.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a snide voice yell "Hey! What's the hol-" Scourge walked over, his eyes were filled with impatience. He stopped and looked to the reflective machine that I was staring into. He crossed his arms and rolled his ice blue eyes "Trust me, you're nothing special." He sneered. I tore my eyes from the machine and considered Scourge for a moment. Surprisingly enough, I looked down and smiled. At least I wasn't the only one who thought little of it.

The green hedgehog quirked an eyebrow "What are you smiling about?" he muttered with a hard look. Suddenly, he took my arm and dragged me to the door "Trust me you really don't have much to be happy about!" with that threw me out of the room despite my protests.

What a nice guy!

I skidded into the sandstone hallway using my hands to cushion my fall, and looked back to Scourge with a snarl on my face, any gratitude I had towards him was long gone now. I was about ready to spit an insult at him when I felt something roughly grab my waist and slam against a sandstone wall, hard. I gagged and gasped for air as the wind was knocked out of me. My vision turned blurry, but as it retuned I noticed that the thing that was pressing me to the wall was a huge hand that enveloped my waist, and the being attached to that hand was a huge ape with a satisfied smile on his face "S-simian" I stuttered with anger. With much difficulty I willed chaos energy to the surface and my palms started to glow.

"Don't even think about it." Simian grunted. His other huge hand wrapped around my throat and slammed my head back into the wall. My eyes widened as I heard a small click, and something other than just Simians hand clamp onto my neck. My whole body stiffened and the energy that I summoned immediately faded away.

Simian removed his hands from me and I fell to the floor with a light thud. My shaky hand reached up to touch my neck. However, instead of the feeling of warm skin I felt a cool metal encircling my neck. A horrifying thought came to mind and I couldn't help but stutter in fear "A-an I-inhibitor collar?"

"That's right!" said Scourge with mock cheerfulness. He walked over casually and ruffled my hair roughly "The Doc told us to put it on ya! He said it would help you be…. oh I don't know…" Scourge smiled at me evilly as he said his next line "More co-operative?"

I could feel my pupils dilate as something inside of me seemed to snap, I stood up as quick as I could under the influence of the inhibitor collar and pulled my fist back "YOU SON OF A-"

His fist made contact with my stomach before I could even get a chance at him. A sharp breath escaped from my moth and I fell forward landing on my knees. "Ah, ah, ah. _Language!_" said the green hedgehog blandly. I said nothing more I only knelt there clutching my stomach my teeth grit with anger. I could sense Simian walking behind me. I felt him wrap a cloth around my eyes, blindfolding me.

I didn't stop him though, even if I wanted to I couldn't. Scourge just proved it to me, I couldn't do anything with this inhibitor collar on. I'd only be weakening myself if I kept on giving them reasons to beat me down.

With much difficulty I swallowed my own hubris and let them half escort me, half drag me down to the black hallway ahead.


	41. The Experement

As Simian and Scourge dragged me down the corridors I couldn't help but think to myself '_Well…. At least this was better than trying to walk on my own.' _I grit my teeth in pain, as a jagged piece of sandstone dug into my knee.

If I were to try and walk by myself, I knew I would have fallen so many times I would have broken my nose. I sighed to myself wondering if this was how Devdas felt when he first turned mobian. I smiled slightly as I remembered his stiff careful steps…. I bet he never fell on his face.

I grit my teeth again as more jagged sandstone tore up the material covering my knees. I would have looked down to access the damage, however my eyes were still blindfolded, which made me all the more anxious to know where they were taking me. Either they didn't want me to know where we were going, or they didn't want me to resist them when we got there…. and I really hoped it was the first possibility.

We suddenly stopped and I heard a door creak open. As I was dragged, I immediately noticed the floor in the room was smoother than the one in the hallway (which I was very thankful for) and I wasn't long until one of my _escorts_ forced my upper body to the floor while the other clamped cool circlets to my wrists and ankles. The hands were removed and I immediately tried to lung upward but was immediately pulled back by unseen restraints.

I fell back to my knees, and tugged nervously on my bonds but found that I was bound to the floor. My eyes widened under my blindfold and I yanked madly at the restraints and even tried to summon some chaos energy, but found myself unsuccessful in each of the affairs.

I was about to yell something at them, until I felt a hard whap on my head and slumped to the ground. I had a feeling that cheap-shot was meant to knock me out; fortunately it only managed to disorient me. As the pair took their leave, I slowly rose back into a sitting position battling off waves of nausea.

I sat there for a long time in my slumped position, eventually the nausea went away and the throbbing in my head turned to a dull ache. I tried to figure out where I was using every sense that I could use. There was no distinguishing smell however; the cool tile on my feet, and the echo of the rattling of my chains told me that I was in a large somewhat empty room.

An hour seemed to go by, and the horrible scenarios that were playing through my mind, due to the anticipation of what was to come, faded and eventually stopped. Dare I say… I was _bored_. Not that I wanted Finitevus to come in and start his experimenting, but being blind folded and left alone for so long can kind of do that to someone. With little left to do, I started to sing…

_…From the first time I saw his eyes _

_There was sunshine_

_Every time he walks into the room_

_I feel my heart go boom boom boom…_

Back home,my singing voice was always just _average_. It was good enough so your ears didn't implode whenever I opened my mouth, but I wasn't getting any lead roles in musicals any time soon. Now, I sounded different from back then… I still had an average voice but it sounded so… so…

_Fragile_

Almost like a little kid was singing, almost as if I could break at any moment. Suddenly, I tensed, the door had creaked open and I heard footsteps entering the room. All of my senses were alert as the footsteps made their way over to me. I jerked backward as I felt two hands tilt my chin upwards. I tried to pull away but the hands roughly grabbed my chin and pulled it back to where they wanted.

After examining my head at uncomfortable angles, the hands finally removed themselves. I grit my teeth as I heard an all too familiar chuckle as the footsteps trailed behind me and tested my bonds.

Soon after my blindfold was pulled upward and stopped on my forehead. I cracked my eyes open and sure enough the white echidna himself was standing in front of me. I narrowed my eyes in anger then allowed myself to check out my surroundings. I was right about room, it was a large dome, like a planetarium, that was about fifteen meters in diameter and had dark blue lighting.

One of the strangest things about this room was that it was just a room, nothing else. There were no machines, no furniture, and no torture equipment of any kind (which I found very suprising for Dr. Finitevus.) In fact, the only thing that would be in this room, if no one were in it, would be the set of shackles I was currently in. This did not set well with me.

"It is a pleasure to see you once again _Nicki!"_ said the doctor with a smug smile.

"I looked away from him with disgust "Stop your gloating and just get it over with already…"

"Excuse me?" he said questioningly.

I growled with frustration '_Was this his idea of a joke?' _"Don't play dumb! Just hex me while I still have some dignity left!" Saying I still had any dignity was a bit of a long shot, considering that my freedom had been taken away from me and I was at the mercy of a mercenary squad and an insane doctor. Not to mention I was still getting used to… _how I looked now_.

The mad doctor laughed "Eager now aren't we?"

I remained silent, and looked away not wanting to talk to him any more than I had to. I was determined to keep a bitter composure until his hand latched onto my face and forced me to look at him. I bared my teeth and struggled against his grip, which only made him hold tighter and tighter until I sworn I could have tasted blood.

"I bet you would want me to end all of this for you right now, wouldn't you?" he laughed. I reluctantly gave him a questioning grunt, only to have him chuckle and smooth the hair out of my face with his free hand. "However I different plans." He said while leaning and in a spine chilling tone he whispered "You see my dear, I would much rather break you before we got to that."

I could almost feel my face drain. What breath I did have caught in my throat '_Break me?' _Unfortunately for me Finitevus noticed and his eyes brightened in a maniacal way. He let go of my face and leisurely strolled behind me.

I let out a quick gasp as I felt his hands clamp down onto the back of my head "The most amusing aspect of this situation, is that all of this could have been avoided if you had been a good girl and surrendered back in New Mobotropolis." My eyes widened and I was only able to let out a small gasp in protest before I was pulled away from the physical world.

Out of everything I've been put through so far in Mobious what Finitevus was forcing me to experience right now was one of the worst. My whole life seemed to be flashing in front of my eyes in fast motion. The combination of quick flashing images and sounds blasting into my eyes and ears was maddening. The worst part was it just kept going on and on without any end in sight.

Occasionally, the images would slow down, to what I could only assume, a part that Finitevus found interesting. Unfortunately for me, most of those parts were either private, or things that I have been trying for years to forget. Like a dream that I had many years ago, where younger Nicki sat in a delicate raft surrounded by a luminescent green ocean. The boat suddenly started to sink, and young Nicki tried to cover the hole the light, green liquid was coming in from. However, as soon as she touched the liquid it severely burned her hands, worse than boiling water would. She screamed and jumped back in pain, just as the liquid was about to overtake her, the younger Nicki woke up with throbbing, yet undamaged, hands.

I cringed remembering how much that bothered me now that it had resurfaced. And that was just the beginning, he saw Lexie- Na's death, the strangers' appearance, my journey to the death egg (which I could feel him take amusement in.) Then, he started sorting through my memories of Devdas and Nadi- la. '_Stop it!' _I sent mentally_._

Surprisingly enough I heard a response _'Oh? Is there something you don't want me to see?'_

_'If any of this were up to me, you wouldn't have seen anything. Enough is enough, Now end this!'_I could feel his smugness as he continued to dig so deep into those memories that it hurt.

_'Stop...'_

He skimmed through the sisterly moments that Nadi- La and I shared together.

_'Stop!'_

He watched the very personal last moments Devdas and I spent together.

'_STOP!'_ Suddenly there was a flash and everything was white.

All I heard for a few moments was a dripping sound. Things eventually started to come back into perspective. I was staring at the ground, thankfully back in reality. There was a tiny pool of blood right under where my head was, and was steadily growing from drips of warm blood coming from the tip of my nose. I blinked a few times and wiped the blood away with the back of my hand.

My eyes widened with realization as I held my hand in front of my face. I blinked a few times my hands… were…. free? I heard mumbling come from either side of me my ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton so I couldn't make out what they were saying. Suddenly, I was yanked to my feet and my senses started to quickly return to me. I hazily looked to either side of me and saw predator hawk and flying frog.

"Can you walk?" The blue hawk asked.

I nodded and without any protest shakily got up on my feet. Predator started to nudge me forward. But first, I looked behind me only to see the doctor himself smirking at me.

"I must thank you my dear! That was very …. _enlightening_.

The way he used that word didn't set well with me and I cringed at the thought of what he now knew about me. I…. was afraid…. about what he was going to do next now that he showed me what he was capable of. And there was nothing I could do about it….

No…

No… it wasn't going to play out like. Predator nudged me forward more forcefully this time, yet my body stayed put. I refused to let Finitevus get his way there was no way I was submitting to him so easily….

Predator gripped my wrist and started to pull forward, but that's when I did something no one not even Finitevus expected. I tore my wrist from Predator's grasp. Surprised, He made a grab for me but I twisted away from it I ran forward, my arm pulled back.

And without a second thought I punched Finitevus in the face. The snout to be precise, even with my inhibiter collar on I felt an all too satisfying crack come from underneath his skin.

I was all smiles as Predator and Flying roughly grabbed me and pulled me back in the process. I didn't fight them, besides at that moment, we were all distracted buy one thing; watching Finitevus to see what would happen next.

The doctor was on his hands and knees, although you couldn't really tell because his black cloak was draped in a way that only showed his head. Blood started to leak from his nose as he turned his head in our direction for a brief moment our gazes connected. His glare was anything but happy; I contained threats, promises all of which were horrifying in various ways. I could almost hear him say '_You will pay dearly for this.'_ I only glared back in a way that hopefully said '_Screw off.'_

He wiped away the blood and snarled "Get _her_ out of here!" Wasting no time to save their own skins Predator and a (surprisingly receptive) Flying rushed out of the murky dome dragging me behind them.

In no time flat we were back in my storage closet and I was shoved back into my crate. I looked up to both of them with narrowed eyes. Of course, it had no effect on them, that is, until I heard Fly start up with his creepy giggling "Heh heh heh girly swirly pearly made a gutsy move!"

Lightning laughed softly laughed "A gutsy move indeed!" he paused "I admire that in a prey." I looked at him questioningly his voice sounded cocky, yet it had a hint of sincerity to it. His hand reached down through the bars and grabbed my shoulder, his talons digging deep into my skin "Just make sure the next time we see them, they're not splattered all over the floor...Got it? You seem like an interesting prey that I would love to hunt down one day. "

I smirked "Same goes for you." He scoffed and with that he removed his hand and left with, a very amused, Flying leaving me alone once again.

As I had thought about what I had just done, what Predator said about my _guts_ being splattered on the floor was starting to look more and more realistic. Finitevus was probably not happy, and planning my punishment for disobedience at this very moment. But, right now I was safe I laid down on the hard floor and thought to myself _'Devdas, Nadi- La I hope you two are alright.' _

**A note from the author:**

**Hey you guys sorry about the timing for this chapter. I wanted to get it up 3 weeks ago however, if you read my profile, you would know that I was hospitalized recently with a really, really, REALLY! bad case of the stomach flu. Soooooo yeah, AtalentaSonic was not feeling the best over the holidays. Sorry about the long wait and again thank you for your concern, there's more to come soon.**


	42. The Journey Begins

"Devdas look out behind you!"

My eyes snapped back as I swung my bo back to hit the green suited dark legionnaire's head. He immediately fell to the ground unconscious. I looked up into a tree to see the pale pink echidna.

"Thanks for the save Nadi-La!"

"I would not be thanking me yet!" yelled the small echidna.

I swung my head to the side and my heart sank. Reinforcements had come; it looked like the dark legionnaires that had originally jumped us were more resourceful than I thought. As of now about ten more legionnaires and a huge robot, that Nadi- La identified to me as a G.O.O.N., were emerging from the thick forestation all around us.

I looked to Nadi- La's worried face "Go somewhere safe, and see if you can find any friendly minds that might be able to help us!"

The echidna looked at me with her wide eyes "But Devdas you don't have to.."

I sighed and thought back to my last moments in New Mobotropolis _'Yes, I do.'_

"…So you wanted to talk to me Dimitri?" I said while narrowing my eyes at the ancient scientist." The science center was unusually cold and foreboding that night; it was a weird feeling considering that not too long ago it was a safe haven for Nadi- la Nicki and me.

"Yes…. I trust that you know the circumstances of both yours and Nadi- La's actions." the scientist said with a hint of steel in his voice.

"If I would have known she was going to-"

"Do not pretend that you would have tried to stop her, I know enough about you to extrapolate that much! I do not want to hear your excuses!

I wanted to snap back at the scientist until I realized… he was right. If I would have known Nadi- la's plan ahead of time, considering the situation we were being put in, I wouldn't have stopped her.

I shook myself out of my self-imposed trance and looked back to the echidna "So what? Did you just call me here to insult me, or do you actually have something useful to say old man?"

Dimitri's eyes narrowed at my words almost as if he was reluctant to give me the information, but thankfully he proceeded "I will forgive your rudeness considering the situation you are in, however you should learn to speak to others respectfully if you wish to receive something in turn." I grumbled under my breath "Dimitri's face softened a bit, Rotor and myself will do what we can here in New Mobotropolis. Once the council hears about what's at stake they will have no choice but to overrule our "king" and send a team up to Angel Island, but that will be too slow. In the meantime I wish for you to escort Nadi- La up to the island-"

My ears perked up in curiosity "Escort Nadi- la? What do you mean by that?"

Dimitri kept a matter-of-fact expression however I noticed it had a tinge of sadness to it "Nadi- la's "abilities" will be essential to this mission's success. You must not let her be harmed."

"Why would I need to "escort" her? What about me?"

A somewhat cocky smile appeared on the mechanical echidna's face "What about you? Let's face it, in this situation; Nadi- La's life is more valuable than yours, not to mention Finitevus will be out for her blood, not yours, when he figures out what we're doing."

I repressed a growl at Dimitri's statement "And what _are_ we doing?"

"….I am afraid I cannot tell you at the moment…"

I widened my eyes then threw my hands up in the air in frustration "Oh I get it! You call me to the science center, tell me my life is worthless, say that I have a top secret mission, and don't even tell me anything about it! Don't you trust me! Is there anything I _can_ know?"

There was a deadly silence between the two of us. I couldn't believe how I was acting. My whole time as a mobian I had been nothing but, what they called, "polite." Now I felt on edge, almost like anything could send me over at this point. Was this anxiety? Stress? Whatever it was it was far more powerful than what I felt when I was back on Earth. Was this how people acted when they were under this kind of pressure?

I watched Dimitri as he extended his robotic tentacles to grab a pen and a piece of paper from a side table and wrote something down saying "If Finitevus is successful with his plans you must… remember this…." The way he said that filled me with unease "Tell Nadi- la to read this to you when you know you are in a safe haven." He handed me the paper with a melancholic expression. I grabbed the paper and opened it up but only saw complete gibberish. I still wasn't a strong reader. I would have asked him more questions but Nadi- La came in soon after and told me it was time to go.

And that brings us to where we are now, not even two steps into the Meracian woods and we get attacked by three dark legionnaires, who unfortunately called for backup. I got ready to run there was no way I was going to be able to beat these guys. I was about to make a charge for Nadi- La when I noticed, she was gone. I looked all around in panic until I heard someone's voice.

"Ho there! Fear not, help hath arrived!"

I looked over just in time to see an arrow hit a G.O.O.N on the head and blow it to pieces. Just as I was about to look for the person who helped, something dashed toward the dark legionnaires and hit one with a…. lyre? As he said:

"~_Oh you scum_

_ You shouldn't have come_

_ Lest you face_

_Our king's terrible grace!_

_And oh hey Nonny Nonny!~"_

My eye twitched "Was he singing?" before I knew it more and more came out from the trees. A Lop emerged and quickly took two legionnaires down. Not even two seconds later a huge rate took down what was left of the G.O.O.N.

There were also three snipers perched in the trees, who were scaring off the remaining legionnaires. I was able to make out some kind of hooded bird, a hedgehog that looked too much like Sonic, and…. Nadi-La?! She was right there firing off rounds of arrows with the others until the battle field was completely cleared.

All I could do was laugh in joy at the fact I was still alive as the bird jumped from the trees and addressed me "Art thou okay?"

I held out my hand and shook his "Thanks to you guys! Who are you?"

The hooded Sonic approached me "Methinks thou hath never entered the Deeperwood forest. Very well fere, my name beith King Rob'O the Hedge, and these fine fellows beith the Meracian Freedom Fighters!


	43. A New Plan

I wiped sweat from my quivering brow.All of my strength, all of my mental prowess:…. _exhausted_. Fighting Dr. Eggman was nothing compared to the task I was given. I valiantly scanned my work, one last time, as I looked over to Nadi- La beside me. My voice shook "W-well?"

_*SMACK!* _

"OH COME ON!" I yelled as I held my newly throbbing hand to my chest. "What did I do wrong that time!?"

Nadi- La twirled her stick (aka: punishing whip) in her fingers, staring at me with her cold emotionless eyes. She eyed my scribbling in the mud below her and spoke thus "The "C" and "E" are backwards, there are two O's in "Cookie" not one, I cannot make out the letters you wrote after "E", even if I could they would still be incorrect, plus you put a "Y" where the "I" should be, and last but not least, the word you chose is childish…"

"T-there is nothing childish about cookies!" I yelled defensively as I looked over the collection of swollen welts on my hand (We had been going at this for a while). I heard the Meracian Freedom Fighters snickering all around me and blushed with embarrassment.

It was nighttime, and the Meracian Freedom Fighters had all gathered around the fire along with Nadi-La and myself. Bow and the hooded Sonic supposedly left the group for the time being, to have a conference of some sort.

Nadi- La assured me that she talked to them about our situation for getting to Angle Island; however, she neglected to tell me about what she asked them to do about it. I groaned, chalk up yet another thing people refuse to tell me about.

In the meantime I had to make small talk with the rest of the Meracian Freedom Fighters and have spelling lessons with Nadi- La, which were starting to become a burden on my physical health… every time I got a word wrong that is.

I stole another glance at my throbbing hand and let out a loud groan which caught Nadi- La's attention. "Don't worry Devdas" she said in her sweet-little-girl voice "Your brain is probably still adapting from that tiny, little mutt brain you had before!"

I felt a sting on my pride and closed one eye as if I had tasted something sour "Gee thanks Nadi- La…."

Thorn the Lop playfully nudged my side "Hard on you isn't she?" she said with a laugh.

"You have nooooo idea…" I murmured

There was suddenly a hearty laugh accompanied by the strum of a lyre "Ahhh! The child has a tongue of steel! Heaven help the man she weds!" Alan the quail spoke with a wink.

A small shiver went up my spine; sure Nadi- La had an unintentional tongue of steel, (Most of the things she says she doesn't even know they are offensive/ wrong.) but just the thought of her….. Getting married of all things! I looked over to the tiny echidna, who I had known for so long. She was rubbing my latest attempt of spelling the word "Cookie" out of the dirt and getting ready for the next round of the: Nadi- La-Beats -Devdas-With-A-Stick game. I cringed, that brainiac kid getting married was something very hard to picture to say the least.

Alan must have noticed my face, for it wasn't long before he grabbed my shoulder and laughed " I jest! I jest! Friend!" Alan held up his lyre and cleared his throat.

_Brothers ignoring the sisters call~_

_Should not be brothers at all~_

_Sisters should always be held dear~_

_Lest their future you should fear~_

_And ah Hey Nonny Nonny!~_

I could have sworn under my black fur my face was as red as a cherry " Nadi- La is **not **my sister!"

The quail laughed once again "Ah, but at the mention of matrimony, your face swelled up into a picture perfect representation of "a _brother's _discontent!""

"That doesn't mean we're siblings!"

"You do not have to be related by blood in order to be considered siblings."

"Yes you –"

A strong voice called out to us "Enough! Both of you!" we all looked behind us to see none other than Rob' O the Hedge himself accompanied by Bow the Sparrow. By the looks of it they had just arrived mere seconds before we started arguing.

"Rob' O Bow!" I yelled enthusiastically. However, said enthusiasm was directed more toward the relief of dropping the "_brother" _topic, and less toward the actual happiness of seeing them. Regardless, I removed myself from my log seat and went to greet the two newcomers.

Rob' O firmly grasped my hand in his own "Greetings, Sir Devdas and Lady Nadi- La! I am trusting our hospitality has been most welcome to you.

Forgetting about their comments about Nadi- La and I, I answered his question truthfully "Yes, your hospitality is most welcome! Also, I feel that I must personally thank you for your help fighting the Dark Legionnaires. Who knows what would have happened to us if you weren't there! "

Bow seemed to enjoy the praise and puffed his chest out with pride "Yes! All in a day's work for the Meracian Freedom fighters!"

Munch the Rat's voice called out in a sarcastic tone "Don't look now your majesty, but it looks like Bow's head is getting larger by the second!" To this, Bow's proud demeanor quickly fell as he shot a warning glance to munch, who in turn pretended like he was innocently warming his hands by the fire with a smirk on his face.

Thankfully, before a brawl could start, King Rob' O spoke out once again "Save your squabbling for other times! Bow and myself hath important news in regards to Lady Nadi- La's request!

"What is your news?" Nadi- La asked. I jumped as I heard her voice suddenly next to me (I could have sworn she was still siting over at the log.)

"Methinks we hath good tidings and bad tidings." Rob'O stated matter-of-factly.

"What's the good news" I asked

A smile came to Bows face once again "We think we found you two an adequate transport to Angle Island!"

"And the bad?"

Bow and Rob' O exchanged worried glances "Y'see, now that's the problem…"

**Well this is a surprise isn't it? I'm not dead! Sorry about the long wait for this chapter. Just know that I will not cancel Surviving Mobius and plan to wright it to its conclusion. I would like to thank you all for putting up with my writing schedule and staying supportive all this time! Just know that I have to wright this at my own pace but it's better than nothing, right? Once again thank you for all of your support and I will see you guys real soon!**

**-AtalentaSonic**


	44. Zeron

I groaned in my sleep.

I saw that a blue robot and Sonic were fighting a weird black, cobra headed, robot, along with a robotic wolf, and a Metal Sonic. They didn't seem to be doing so well, it only got worse when they switched adversaries. The blue robot was clawed in the face by the Metal Sonic, while Sonic got kicked in the stomach so hard by Mr. Cobra-head that even I could feel it.

Then for some reason, Sonic started to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, with the blue robot that was fighting alongside him, however before I could see who won a voice penetrated my mental barriers. It was a very sing-song voice that repeated the same thing over and over.

"Wake up~, Wake up~!"

I felt my eyelids getting lighter as I felt a pulling sensation on the back of my head. Soon, I was conscious enough to remember the situation I was in, and to realize that someone was telling me to wake up and... Pulling at my hair! I quickly jerked away from the pressure and whipped my head around to catch a glimpse of, whoever it was who was, that was intruding in my personal space!

What I saw frightened yet puzzled me at the same time. It was a figure with a black cloak that covered its face, while bright yellow eyes showed through it. I scooted backward as far as my cage would let me.

"A-a-a dark legionnaire!?" I stammered

The bright yellow eyes widened and the cloaked figure jolted upwards as I heard it speak for the first time "A dark l-legionnaire!" its voice stammered.

The voice was defiantly male and, _for some reason_, seemed just as surprised as I was to see, that he himself was, in fact, a dark legionnaire. The strangeness didn't end there, the legionnaire then proceeded to pull out his pistol all the while turning on his heel and charging, at seemingly nothing. This caused him to smack, face-first, into a machine and topple over into a pile of boxes on the floor.

I could feel my eye twitching while as I had, what I imagined as, the biggest _what-the-hell-is-going-on_ look on my face. I was about to say something, however before I got even two syllables in, I saw his head pop out of the pile of toppled boxes as he waved his pistol in every direction ever known. "Where's the dark legionnaire!?" he yelled "Show me! I'll get em!"

My mind didn't even know how to react anymore, so my body spoke for me, as it lazily dragged my pointer finger upward until it stopped on him, I could only imagine the look on my face at that moment.

The legionnaires eyes grew bigger yet "He's behind me?!" he yelled while doing a, very awkward 180 in the pile of boxes.

Finally my brain seemed to catch up with me as I yelled "No! You're the dark legionnaire you moron!"

The yellow eyes looked at me in question "What? But I'm not a…" It was then that he looked down at what he was wearing and let out a low chuckle "Ooooohhhh! That explains it!"

I let out an exasperated sigh '_He didn't even know he was wearing the cloak!'_

Speaking of which, as soon as he realized his mistake he began to remove the cloak. The black silky material fell to the floor with a soft thud as I saw what the cloaked figure really looked like. He was obviously an echidna light red in colour, almost pink. He had messy blonde hair that reminded me of sand on the beach, while his eyes were a solid hazel colour. Under the cloak he wore a grey tunic-like shirt along with light brown pants made of a cottony material, and black working boots.

It wasn't long before he spoke once again. "I guess I owe you an introduction!" he said with a dorky smile on his surprisingly, boyish face. He held out his hand "Hiya! M'names Zeron! Inside eye, in the Dark Egg Legion, bodyguard, and escorted of you…to…. places!"

My eye twitched in disbelief "You really didn't plan out that last sentence to well, did ya?"

"Nope, not at all!"

"And another thing…"

"What would that be?"

"How do you expect me to shake your hand when you're all the way over there and I'm over here?" I said bluntly while eyeing the over four meter distance between us.

He opened his hazel eyes and looked at how far my crate was away from him, then looked to his, still presented hand. "Oh you can't do that because you're kind of in the cage, and I'm out- … You know what never mind that, let's get you out of there!" He then proceeded to come over and unlock the cage with a key he had in his pocket "Well, come on out madam! We've got places to go and people to see!"

Ignoring his most recent statement I gave him a funny look and asked "Do you really work for Dr. Finitevus?"

"Most of my life!" he replied back cheerfully.

Was this Finitevus' idea of a joke? I sighed as I left the crate, _he may have been an odd personality, but at least he wasn't Scourge…_

Not long after that, I was wandering the cave-like, sandstone hallways with Zeron leading ahead of me. The weird thing about this situation was, for once, in the past few days, I wasn't being restrained at all. No guards, no guns to my head, no handcuffs, he wasn't even holding my hand! Not that I wasn't relieved for this welcomed freedom, but I couldn't help but feel suspicious. All he was doing was walking in front of me, with his hands behind his head, humming a tune. When I couldn't take the suspense anymore I finally snapped.

"What's going on here!"

He stopped walking and looked over his shoulder with a questioning look on his boyish face "Hm? I beg your pardon?"

My fists shook "The way your treating me.. Your personality! Do you honestly expect me to fall for that act!?"

He turned the full way around and looked at me with interest "Acting?" he questioned with a playfully smug look on his face "Sweetheart, the only one being dramatic here is you."

My face turned beet red "D-don't call me that, and that's not what I mean! Ever since I met you, all you've done is act like an idiot! I don't know if you've noticed but we're in a psychopath's secret base, and excuse me for believing that this is some part of a trap and or experiment! I mean come on! your not even making sure I follow you!"

The light red echidna snickered "Excuse me, for not wanting to catch a bad case of the cooties."

"Be serious!"

He sighed "Disregarding, the comment about me acting like an idiot.." he stated with the smallest hint of a smile on his face "Fine… If you try to run away I can assure you, you will have nowhere to go… I can also assure you, that I will not be far behind to catch you." He gave me a sly look from the corner of his eyes.

I was suddenly taken aback by this dark tone "T-that's not funny." I stated

"Well you told me to be serious!" he laughed "Geez! Make up your mind woman." And there he was again, it's like that dark attitude just came and went. In the end, I just disregarded it and resolved not to talk to him anymore.

It was funny though, if we were in any other situation, I think this Zeron guy and I could have been friends, if he really was such a light hearted echidna that is. He seemed nice enough, in fact he reminded me of Mighty, just more evil and less armadillo.

However, it also struck the question; how can someone who has worked for Finitevus most of their life be this joking and care free? I would expect for someone who has worked for Finitevus quote-unquote '_Most of their life.' _To be a shell of their former self, heck, maybe even dead within the first year. What if this guy is like Nadi-La! Not that she wasn't a shell of her former self when I first met her, but still! If that was the case then there still may be hope-.

I didn't get to finish my thought as Zeron suddenly stopped in front of a door. "This is our stop!" he said cheerfully.

He opened the door for me, and as I walked in I realized I remebered this room. It was the dome-like room that Finitevus mind raped me in before, kind of hard to forget. The only differences were that it had normal lighting now rather than the blue lighting it had before. I also noticed a row of mirrors against the far wall. As I watched them a small stir behind the mirror caught my eye, a movement so small that the only way to have noticed it was to have been staring at the mirror as intently as I was.

"Two ways?" I muttered to myself.

"HIYA BOSS!" Zeron yelled, the sudden noise was enough to make me almost jump out of my skin. I jerked my head to see that Zeron had pulled out a headset that supposedly connected with someone else. Then, something started to bother me. As Zeron acknowledged what the mobian on the other line was saying his voice droned darker and darker and the air around us grew colder.

I looked to the mirror once again "What the hell are you up to?" I muttered

My heart beated faster as I heard Zeron mutter "Understood.." into the headset as he hung up, and walked toward me with slow footsteps. "I'm sorry Nicki" he muttered. I shivered at the way he said my name "Y'see I have these nasty orders to….. put you in your place."

He chuckled darkly and finally looked up. His hazel eyes had gone dark "Just grit your teeth and it will be over before you know it!"


	45. Predatory

**A/N: Just a small warning: This chapter is going to be darker than usual, but still within a "T" rating, enjoy!**

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><p>I growled at the seemingly good natured echidna only a few steps in front of me.<p>

"Put me in my place, huh?" I muttered lowly before sweeping my hand across the air in anger "And what gives you the damn right?!"

Zeron smiled innocently "My master… Dr. Finitevus, just in case you forgot, gave me… and _excuse_ my language here but, the _"damn right'_".

I cursed under my breath, and took a step back as a sickeningly tender look replaced his smile. "Hey it's okay" he cooed "all you have to do is submit to our master and I won't have to carry out those nasty orders."

"**Your **master" I corrected harshly "And why the heck should I submit after all the crap he's put me and just about everyone else, through!" I mentally sighed _wasn't that the understatement of the century._

I waited for what seemed like forever for Zeron's response. He remained quiet for a little while longer before he looked up with those, all too familiar, soulless eyes.

"… I'm sorry you feel that way…"

I hardly had time to think as he charged and was up close and personal in less than a second. He grabbed my throat and slammed me against the wall. I gagged as the breath left my lungs. "W-waa?" was all I could manage before he pulled his fist back and nailed me straight in the gut.

I felt like vomiting, but couldn't as my airway was practically cut off. I never thought I would be thankful for the inhibitor collar, because I was pretty sure that, without it, he would have crushed my throat.

My survival instincts kicked in as I grasped his shoulders and kicked his stomach with both feet. Thankfully it was enough to get him to loosen his grip so I could break free, (although I couldn't shake the feeling that he _let_ me go intentionally). I gasped for air as I scrambled to put distance between us. "Is this how you fight?" I choked out "Taking on someone with the disadvantage of an inhibitor collar?"

"This is not a battle" his answered in a voice that was all too different from the one I had known a few minutes before "This is justice…A justified punishment, if you will." He smirked "A justified punishment for a disobedient underling."

"You can't be serious" I almost whispered.

Once again, as quick as a flash, he ran towards forward and punched me across the face. I could almost hear Finitevus' laughter at the irony of what just happened. I fell to the floor, and as I blinked spots out of my vision I realized that I tasted blood in my mouth. Not only could I taste blood I could see little droplets scattered on the floor.

I felt a hand grab my shoulder and myself rolled over onto my back. I saw Zeron starring down at me with his soulless eyes…. No, not soulless there was something there else, maybe a mixture of multiple things. As small as it was what looked like… sadness? regret?, comfort,… desire? However, I was willing to chalk that up to my disoriented mind seeing things that weren't there.

"Will you submit?" he asked lowly.

I answered that question with a blood filled loogie straight to his face. "Enjoy this while you can doc." I muttered right before I grasped his shoulders, jolted upwards, and slammed my forehead into his.

That is when things went black, that was to be expected, however this was not the type of unconsciousness I was used to. I was still aware of everything around me almost like I was still dully connected to the real world. Not only that I felt a presence separate from my own, but it wasn't Zeron's so then who was….

"Yo…" said a condescending voice.

My eyes widened as I followed the sound of the all too familiar voice. I laughed to myself as I saw why the voice was so familiar…

…because it was my voice.

I sighed, mostly because I wasn't even surprised anymore, at that moment I was staring at a copy of myself, but not as I was now. No… I was staring at … well my human side. Unlike me though, she was in peak perfect condition. Not a single smudge of dirt, scratch or bruise lingered on her skin. Not even a single tear her clothing either, hell my old dingy boots, even looked shined.

One of the weirdest things though, was looking into my own eyes. I had done so in a mirror plenty of times before, but the way this version of me wore them made them look inhumanly blue, they were emanating a confidence and superiority (no wonder Scourge called me bright eyes). However, there was something off, they also had a hue of a cold, darkness, an arrogance laced to them. The whole effect gave me chills down my spine.

She chuckled from where she was sitting.

Or lack thereof.

In all honesty she just hovering in midair in a sitting position while a hand rested on her cheek and the elbow rested on crossed legs. "Strange isn't it?"

I refrained from answering.

"But then again, I guess you were kind of asking for this the moment you slammed your cranium against that Zeron's forehead. Genius move by the way! I wonder how many brain cells you killed with that stunt." My double chuckled coldly "Not that there were many left to kill in the first place, and I should know."

"Who are you?" I finally managed in a hateful tone.

"Who am I?" She asked with mock interest "I thought that would be obvious, I'm you."

"You're an idiot if you think I'm going to believe that."

She gave a dramatic sigh "How did I know you wouldn't accept that answer…" she smirked "Other than the obvious reasons of course."

"Of course." I muttered back with a glare.

"My my,, such a hateful response." She said her eyes sparkling with arrogance "No wonder people find it hard to put up with me. Well here are some more answers for you, choose whichever one you'd like to believe. I'm your brain damaged hallucination from the stunt you just pulled. I'm the you, you wish you were. I'm an embodiment of all of your… "best" qualities. Oh, Maybe I'm a vengeful spirt that has taken refuge in your mind. Ooh here's a good one! I'm you from the future, and I've come back to warn you about the upcoming toaster apocalypse!" She laughed, presumably at her own 'joke'.

"That's enough!" I yelled. _What was the point of all of this!_

She chuckled once again "Aww, but I've saved the best one for last!"

"I don't want to hear it!" I muttered

"Oh I think you do." She scoffed and continued anyway.

"Maybe… just maybe…" she descended from where she was "sitting" and started to walk toward me menacingly "I'm the growing cracks in your demeanor. The part of you, that's been growing stronger and stronger with each strike to your sanity." She leaned down so we were face to face "The part of you Finitevus wanted to create whilst he _"broke"_ you." She leaned in to my ear and whispered with a smile "Is _**that**_a good enough explanation?"

My eyes widened with shock and fear "Y-you're not real." I hissed "This is all just some sort of hallucination!"

She pulled away and thankfully stepped back to put some distance between us "Of course I'm not real, but that doesn't make what's happening to you any less real than it already is."

I backed away "W-what?"

She sighed dramatically "Ah well, looks like our body is recovering from your little tantrum. It looks like your brains little curtesy call is going to have to end a bit early." She winked mischievously "And by the way, even I think you can do better than this, give em hell for us once you come to, Kay?"

I was about to snap at her until I finally gathered my wits about me, and suddenly found myself back where I was when I 'left'. The only difference was that there was a searing pain on my forehead and Zeron was on the ground in front of me looking up with somewhat wide eyes. He moved his hand to a dark purple mark on his forehead and I was pretty sure I had one to match.

I don't know how or why I reacted like this but my body just decided to go on autopilot. I let out a shrill scream that I was sure a lot of people in the base could hear and used all of my force to kick Zeron in the stomach. A part of me scolded myself for literally kicking my enemy while he was down, but another part of me just did not care…

…and wanted more.

The impact had definitely surprised the sandy haired echidna and seemed to have done a considerable amount of damage. But there was no fooling Zeron twice, he was ready for me as I came in, fist pulled back and ready to punch. He caught said punch and grabbed my opposite shoulder as I did the same to him.

He kneed me in the stomach a few times, with great force, but pain was the last thing on my mind right now. We were having a legitimate power struggle, and neither one of us was willing to give up any ground.

It was then I yelled as I suddenly started to gain ground from him as I pushed him backwards. I then kicked him in the gut once again prompting him to release my fist and fall to the ground an few meters away. For once in my life I didn't feel like the hunter or prey, I felt like the predator. I raised my claws in preparation to deal Zeron the final blow.

… a moral-less, merciless predator… I stopped in my tracks.

My face softened and my attack arm lowered, what was happening to me? What have I become? Zeron, who managed to keep a somewhat emotionless expression, even in the face of death, sat at my feet until his eyes widened and he reached out at seemingly nothing "No please don't!"

I only had a split second to process his words before I felt something make contact with my back. Suddenly, I felt like my body was on fire. I screamed and immediately fell to the ground as all of my joints seized and started twitching on their own. I was able to figure out that I was being electrocuted but by who? The pain suddenly stopped and I was left as a panting, crumbled heap on the floor.

"That will be enough of that." I heard an all too familiar, dark voice say.

I turned my head (which took more effort than usual to do) and unsurprisingly beheld the all too familiar mug of Dr. Finitevus. He had his usual smug smile plastered on his face; his snouts even seemed almost back to normal, give or take a light bruise still being there. His hand was sparking with negative chaos energy that slowly died down to nothing.

"Quite impressive I must admit." He said his smile not dying down once.

I glared at him with pure hatred "Y-y-you were watching… T-two w-way mirror" I stuttered in the most threatening manner possible.

"Correct." He stated casually "And not only was your punishment received, in more ways than one might I add, but I was also able to collect some… _interesting_ data"

_Interesting data?_ My eyes widened how much did he know!

"Now Zeron if you don't mind please take our _guest_ back to her quarters." Said Finitevus dismissively "I have some work I need to get done."

"Screw you.." I muttered weakly, only earning a smile from the mad doctor.

I felt Zerons arms slip under me and lifted me up bridal style. I was surprised with how gentle he was considering not even five minutes ago he was repeatedly punching me in the face.

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><p>I heard a light chuckle from Zeron "We match!" he said while pointing to a spot on his forehead, which had gotten really dark purple by now, and I was sure mine was no different.<p>

I resolved not to answer him.

"Hey don't give me that look" he cooed "I was just following orders."

That's when I snapped "I have seen people _'follow orders'_ you didn't just punish me in there, and you enjoyed every second didn't you!"

He sighed "I did what I was ordered to do, I even gave you a chance to redeem yourself, but did you take it nooooooooo." He said in a dramatically childish manor "And don't even tell me that I enjoyed it when near the end there you seemed to be enjoying it much more than I ever would. I mean, you kick hard! I will defiantly be feeling that tomorrow!"

I bit my lip trying to think of something snappy to say back but in the end I just muttered "Yer not so bad yourself.."

"Awwwww" he said endearingly "I kind of forgot what it feels like to be complimented by a girl, it kind of makes me blush."

My eyes widened and I looked away in embarrassment. It was then that I resolved to stop talking to him altogether.

I had more important things to worry about anyway. I wasn't going to sugar coat it to myself, if I hadn't stopped myself and if Finitevus would have decided not to intervene I would have murdered Zeron in cold blood, and I would have liked it.

I was losing myself. I could almost see the, now noticeable, cracks in my demeanor. Is this what Finitevus meant by breaking me? Destroying my sanity and turning me into a mindless animal? I shuttered at the thought.

'_They're not going to come on time' _I thought to myself randomly. I know Devdas and Nadi- La must have found the sign I left by now. Even if they were coming and even if they did make it, how much of myself would be left for them to salvage. Finitevus had me at his mercy 24/7 now and could do whatever he wanted with me whether I liked it or not. That thought alone was almost enough to make me give up all hope…..

I sighed to myself.

_Screw it_…. I'll be damned if I let Finitevus get away with this that easily, and I'm damned if I lose myself to FInitevus' constant experimenting. So it was a real damned if I do damned if I don't kind of situation. If I kept on fighting, my demeanor would shatter to peaces in no time flat. If I didn't fight at all Finitevus would get his way, and I was way too stubborn to let that happen. Either way things really didn't work out the best for me.

I closed my eyes waiting for guilt to wash over me, for tears to well up in my eyes for acknowledging my inescapable fate. The thing was, none came. I didn't feel any or sadness or pain, I just felt a need to make the most of the time I had left to still be me, while I still had my wits about me. I might as well give the good old doctor as much hell as possible. I chuckled to myself. Maybe I could even find some way to make a game out of it.

….. I rolled my eyes and sighed to myself. That sounded like something and insane mobian would say something Finitevus would say.

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><p><strong>Hey guys:<strong>

**AtalentaSonic here, and I just wanted to thank you all for my over 100 reviews! When I first started this I hardly expected to get 1. I know you guys have to put up with my absurd uploading times, but what else can I say other than life gets in the way y'know. All I can say is thank you for always coming back to read, it means a lot to me!**


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